Shoplifting is expected to cost retailers $9 billion this holiday season. Thieves have been quite busy so far frisking various joints (but mostly Walmart).
In Houston, thieves lifted a BABY in addition to $2,500 worth of merchandise.
ABC reports that six men and a woman stole $2,500 worth of stuff from Walmart and some other places. Authorities were trying to arrest one of the guys when he grabbed a baby and ran. The baby was later found at a house. The thief was not the baby's father.
Also in Houston, a woman was allegedly shot and killed by a security guard in a Walmart parking lot.
A Walmart employee who noticed a group of women "stuffing items inside their purses" inside the Walmart notified an off-duty deputy from the sheriff's office who was working as a security guard in the store. The confrontation between the deputy and the women went from the store to the parking lot — the deputy opened a door to the car the alleged theives were in, but instead of stopping they revved the car forward. The car got away, but police found it nearby, with one of the women dead from a gunshot wound.
Image by Getty Images
In Pennsylvania, thieves made off with $20,000 worth of Burberry stuff.
It was all menswear, and they got it from Nordstrom. Authorities call this kind of job a "smash and grab," with one Lieutenant telling WWD, "We have also seen more sophisticated operations, where they will use a mule who goes back and forth to a car to keep dumping things." Maybe these guys just couldn't resist the shiny purple coat Romeo Beckham wears in the new ads. Nothing has the ability to distract from illegal activity like a dude in an iridescent purple trench.
Source: l.yimg.com
This month in Arizona, police arrested an all-female shopping gang that was targeting CVS stores.
The women would allegedly steal makeup and jewelry from retailers and then sell their loot at a local swap meet. Authorities recovered merchandise worth more than $100,000 from the ladies.
