CHICAGO, Ill. – A form of crime the Illinois Attorney General says is growing is now one that his office is focusing on.
Attorney General Kwame Raoul says retail theft is becoming more of a coordinated effort — not just an individual running off with a few items for themselves.
“We have learned that there is an organized crime aspect to much of today’s retail theft,” said Raoul. “Those arrested are often being used as mules at the lowest level of a larger enterprise.”
The task force will work to coordinate efforts to stop mass retail theft, relying on the expertise of investigators, State’s Attorneys, online marketplaces, and retailers like CVS, Lowe’s, and Home Depot, where Kyle Penoyer is an investigator. Home Depot has seen an 86% increase in investigations into organized retail crime networks.
“This type of criminal element is not just petty shoplifting,” said Penoyer, “but a complex criminal enterprise that can hide right in plain sight, using e-commerce sites to convert their stolen goods to cash.”
Raoul says the organized crime rings target many types of retailers, often using homeless or drug-addicted people to steal the items that are resold for profit.
The Coalition of Law Enforcement and Retail says organized retail crime accounts for $45 billion in annual losses.
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