TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) – A retail crime task force covering Lucas and Wood counties has reached its one-year mark, producing 46 cases opened, 25 arrests, 17 indictments and 12 convictions, with more pending.
The Northwest Ohio Organized Retail Crime Task Force is focused on dismantling theft rings operating in the region.
How the theft rings operate
Investigators say thieves known as “boosters” steal merchandise from retailers — including trading cards, electric bikes and home renovation materials such as flooring — and sell the goods at a steep discount to middlemen called “fencers.”
“But our task force, what we’re looking for is the people who steal the stuff and then sell it to fences,” said Rod Smith, director of the Northwest Ohio Organized Retail Crime Task Force. “The people who steal the stuff, we call the boosters. And usually, they are addicted to some kind of substance. And they are doing it to feed their substance habit.”…