California Highway Patrol’s (CHP) Organized Retail Crime Task Force (ORCTF) shut down a retail crime ring in Southern California last week, uncovering over $143,000 in stolen goods in the process.
CHP’s Border Division announced that an investigation into 10 incidents of theft at Burlington and T.J. Maxx stores in Orange County and Los Angeles County led officers to four suspects who they said had stolen a massive volume of fashion products like apparel, handbags, footwear and luggage.
Through its investigation, CHP discovered that Victor Manuel Marcos Marino, Maria Isabel Orozco Cadena, Elena Huezo and Jose Aurelio Diaz Magana, known in police parlance as “boosters,” committed crimes worth about $10,000 between the dates of Aug. 24 and Sept. 27. Boosters are known to shoplift with the intent of unloading items through “fence” operations —individuals or consortiums tasked with reselling them for a profit.
“It was a group of four individuals…they worked together, and they had 10 confirmed thefts from T.J.Maxx stores in Orange County as well as Los Angeles County, and they would work in tandem,” Lieutenant Mike Monteagudo of CHP’s Border Division told Sourcing Journal.