Posted on 06/01/2005 4:48:43 PM PDT by WestTexasWend
Charges were filed in Oklahoma County on Tuesday against four Mexican nationals accused in a shoplifting ring.
Court papers say the gang of shoplifters were shipping about 2,000 pounds of baby formula to Kentucky every two weeks.
Diana Savalo, 25; Pearla Visnaga, 19; Arsenio Ramirez Tepozotlan, 33; and Oscar Ramirez Topozetlan, 26, are accused of stealing 1,797 cans of baby formula, according to probable cause affidavits.
They are charged with concealing stolen property and larceny of merchandise from a retailer.
Oklahoma City police officers observed the men and women enter several stores and take baby formula without paying, according to court papers. The suspects were hoarding the formula in a storage unit located at 3401 N Bryant.
The theft of infant formula reportedly has been profitable for organized crime nationwide, and authorities think some of the proceeds may be used to fund terrorism.
Shawn Brown, assistant director of vendor management with the state Health Department, said infant formula theft is a growing problem. He said the formula is repackaged and sold on the black market.
"I hear stores are losing thousands of dollars at a time," Brown said. "There are instances in Oklahoma where people are stealing grocery carts full of formula."
Just doing the theft that Americans are too lazy to do.
Sounds like they were planning some SERIOUS procreatin'!
LOL
The INS, Homeland Security, etc., couldn't care less. My neighbors traffic in stolen cars, license plates, property all day in broad daylight. The cops do nothing.
"Just doing the theft that Americans are too lazy to do."
Excellent.
I don't get this. While baby formula is rather expensive, and doesn't need refrigeration, why is it such a hot item to steal? It's heavy, that's for sure. How about stealing diapers, they are getting smaller and smaller and they're a lot lighter than formula. Not cheap either, for that matter.
ping
Just keep those borders open. We'll have a Poncho Villa society in no time. We have spent billions on reducing crime in the US and mega billions on Homeland Security. We have opted to open our doors and allow millions of 3rd world people to infiltrate our country, steal our services(and our cars and baby formula and......). A handful of politicians are willing to step forward and identify that illegal immigration is not good for our country. We won't have to worry about Social Security going broke, because the influx of 25-30,000,000 illegal immigrants will bankrupt this country long before the SS well runs dry.
A supermarket checker gave me the answer a couple of years ago. For some reason it seemed that the cans were being returned for cash refunds without the presentation of a receipt. (I'm not sure why that is/was allowed.) Those cans of baby formula are extremely expensive. My "baby" is almost 17 and I used to pay over three dollars a can back then.
I have noticed that baby formula is no longer stocked on the shelf; there is usually a sign that ask "ask clerk for assistance."
That makes sense. I thought maybe they were "huffing it". :)
Why to Kentucky? And not Mexico?
I'm getting so tired of this.
Close the darn borders!
"Mexican Nationals?"
Yeah, call them illegal aliens. I thought the Mexican Nationals was their baseball team or something.
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