Maricopa County has cracked down on a pair accused of running an organized retail theft ring that hit multiple Home Depot stores in the area. According to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, brothers German Juarez Espinoza and Jacinto Juarez Espinoza have been indicted on multiple charges, including organized retail theft and trafficking in stolen property. The indictment alleges that from March to June, the duo engaged in a spree of thefts that targeted valuable hardware, lifting tools, and even air conditioning units.
The detailed indictment, released by Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, claims the brothers sidestepped checkout lines, used fabricated receipts to appropriate merchandise from the stores, following which they fenced the goods on platforms like Facebook Marketplace — a digital flea market where buyers met sellers, no questions asked, sometimes little heed paid to the shadows from which a product emerged. The elder, German Espinoza, is tackling a weighty list of legal accusations: 13 counts of the Class Four Felony of organized retail theft, three counts falling into the domain of the Class Two Felony of trafficking in stolen property, and one count of fraudulent schemes and artifices, also a Class Two Felony.
His younger sibling Jacinto faces a similar raft of charges: 12 counts of Class Four Felony organized retail theft, three counts of Class Two Felony trafficking in stolen property, and a single count of Class Two Felony fraudulent schemes and artifices. Trials for both brothers have been slated for late 2025, with German’s trial scheduled for December and Jacinto’s for November, though such dates are subject to change, given the often-unpredictable nature of court proceedings…