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A Florida middle school principal said he “did something dumb” after he was arrested at Walmart for trying a shoplifting tactic he claims his friends told him would work. Bok Academy North Principal Gregory Lewis was at a Winter Haven Walmart in Polk County on Saturday afternoon when an asset protection officer observed him “skip scanning” at the self-checkout, WFLA reported. The middle school principal, who admitted to the crime, told a Winter Haven police officer during his arrest that his friends had told him about the shoplifting tactic and that he wanted to try it out for himself.

A Tennessee woman has been banned from every Walmart in the country after an epic shoplifting spree. Ashley Cross, 37, cannot enter any of the grocery giant's 4,600 stores after being caught running a bar code scam. Cross, a known shoplifter, was caught using barcode for a watch battery to scan multiple items for $1 at self-checkouts. Memphis Police caught Cross in the process of stealing a pair of jeans, a t-shirt some boots and 11 packs of ramen noodles from a Walmart on Elvis Presley Boulevard earlier this week. The total haul was valued at $137.34, according to the...

Who steals baby formula? A lot of people, apparently; including two alleged thieves that West Sacramento police say stole $5,000 worth of formula from local Target locations a few days ago. Baby formula is a commonly stolen retail item because of its shelf life and essential value to many people. There’s even a black market for it — but the buyers aren’t who you’d guess

California conditioned these shoplifters to not worry about getting caught. I love their reaction when they find out that the law has changed.

An NYPD sergeant with a six-figure income has been arrested and suspended without pay after allegedly shoplifting $15 worth of cough syrup and drops from a Target store on Long Island in two separate incidents. Sgt. Rayna Madho, a 41-year-old NYPD veteran, has served in various units since joining the force in 2006, earning more than $200,000 in fiscal 2024, including overtime of about $55,000, NY Daily News reported.

COMPTON, Calif. -- More and more stores across the Southland and the country are taking stricter measures to fight a growing epidemic of shoplifting. At least one Rite Aid store in Compton appears to be taking security to the extreme. The store on Long Beach Boulevard installed locked glass cases on every aisle, meaning a majority of items for sale apparently require the assistance of a store employee. It's a sign of a growing and disturbing trend that's been seen in social media videos and news reports of shoplifters taking items from retailers without significant resistance by employees or security....

Dear Editor; Describing the state’s audit of Proposition 47 as “nuanced” and “flawed” is too polite and diplomatic. This audit focuses only on Riverside and San Bernardino counties, jurisdictions with law and order district attorneys and sheriffs who do not coddle criminals, unlike the too many George Soros funded D.A.s polluting so much of California. This I.E. audit implies that Prop 47 is better than it really is, where we have capable and proactive local law enforcement in these counties. Yet the proposition is still an abject failure. The proof lies in simply walking the aisles of your nearby WalMart...

BOSTON — Boston police are investigating after high-end items were stolen from several Back Bay stores Saturday. Alo and Zara, both of which are on Newbury Street, were two of the stores that were robbed in the area, which is a shopping destination for locals and tourists. Advertisement Store management at the Sunglass Hut in the nearby Prudential Mall said they were hit as well on Saturday. They said a group of men and women walked out of the store with expensive sunglasses without paying for the items.

A California shoplifter with expensive taste tried to hide from cops in the trunk of her Tesla after swiping $850 in goods from Lululemon and Sephora. Emely Yanagida, 35, was arrested for shoplifting at Irvine Spectrum Center, stealing $600 worth of make-up and $250 in workout gear. The Irvine Police Department released footage on Saturday which showed officers discover her bizarre hideout - as she hid under a bright green tarp in her Tesla's trunk. The incident occurred on Wednesday when loss prevention officers at the Sephora alerted police to a shoplifting suspect who had fled the store. Irvine police...

Shoplifting has spiked across the country so far this year — even as many major crimes like homicide dropped back to pre-pandemic levels, a major national crime study showed. Rates of shoplifting rose an average 24% during the first half of 2024 compared to the same period last year, according to the Council on Criminal Justice’s (CCJ) Mid-Year Crime Report released Thursday. The study reviewed crime statistics from 23 cities across the US, finding shoplifting has steadily been on the rise since the country began emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic around 2022. Shoplifting has gotten lots of attention in recent...

Target plans to crack down on retail theft by lowering the threshold for how much shoplifters can swipe before employees are allowed to finally step in, according to a report. The Minnesota-based big box retail chain — which has blamed retail theft for hurting its bottom line — instructed store staff to halt bandits who try to flee with items totaling $50, down from the previous sum of $100, Bloomberg News reported Thursday.

CHICAGO — Prosecutors say a shoplifting crew stole merchandise worth more than $17,000 by raiding five Lululemon stores in under 90 minutes earlier this month. Two women face felony charges. Surveillance video from the stores showed two women entering the retailer’s West Loop location, 932 West Randolph, around 11:50 a.m. on June 14, officials said. The pair walked out with clothing and accessories without paying. They struck again 15 minutes later at the 944 West North Avenue store and 12 minutes after that at the 1627 North Damen Location. About 20 minutes later, they were in Lakeview, hitting the store...

Pat Guider was in retail for more than 40 years. Twenty-plus at the old Chase-Pitkin and then, until last week, almost another 20 at Big Lots. Almost, because they fired him. And therein lies our story. There’s been a lot of stealing lately, it’s the new entitlement of urban America. People just walk in, gather up armfuls or bagsful of merchandise, and walk out the door. The employees won’t stop them, the police won’t arrest them, the laws won’t hold them accountable. Especially in New York. In New York, retail theft – which is what they call shoplifting now –...

New York City is losing drugstores as retail theft continues to surge. Gotham has logged 21,578 shoplifting complaints this year through May 12, up 5% from the 20,552 thefts during the same period last year. Manhattan has seen 8,896 incidents of retail theft alone. Crime is so rampant, national chains like Target, CVS and Walgreens are closing locations and tempering expansion plans. Target announced at the end of last year the closure of nine stores across four states, including one in Harlem, due to theft.

Store employees in Beverly Hills were so fed up with shoplifting, they decided to put together a "new mugshot" wall-of-shame display.

NYC Now has a $4.4 billion shoplifting economy. Theft is so rampant, retailers are forced to make tough choices... Cash takes a serious look at stores starting to flee the big apple. The fall of a once great city. And one shining mall in the city is now completely vacant due in most part to shoplifting and violent crime.

Here's a look at what's gone wrong at both chains.. These are tough times for two big US dollar store chains. In the past month, Family Dollar said it will close nearly 1,000 stores and 99 Cents Only said it will go out of business. Both companies said inflation and shoplifting have contributed to their troubles. While inflation has pressured the companies' low-income customer base and shoplifting has squeezed their profits, those factors alone can't explain their difficulties. Years of strategic mistakes and underinvestment have plagued Family Dollar and 99 Cents Only, retail analysts say. Both brands were acquired by...

Florida is taking a strong stand against retail theft and “porch piracy.” Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday signed into law a bill that would crack down on criminals participating in shoplifting rings and engaging in other types of property crime. While doing so, he took some shots at California and New York for going easy on those committing these offenses. Amid widespread retail theft occurring across the nation, state and local governments are grappling with putting a stop to these operations while others are simply responding with a shrug. In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, DeSantis announced...

Cullan Mais used to shoplift almost every day. The 31-year-old would often travel from his home in Cardiff to towns such as Abergavenny where he would then steal up to £4,000 worth of goods in a day. “We’d park up on the one end of town and we’d hit the shops,” he told ITV Cymru Wales while visiting Abergavenny for the first time since kicking his habit. “We’d take the stuff back, we’d drive back around to this side of town and do the same here. “There’s certain opticians up here, pharmacies, clothing shops, that were hit frequently. I would...

Chief Executive of the Convenience Stores and Newsagents Association has described an increase in thefts last year — driven mainly by robberies from shops — as “frightening”. Speaking on RTÉ’s News at One, Vincent Jennings said it is not just just the thefts that are concerning, but the associated incidents — such as assaults, assaults causing harm, drunkenness, misogynistic and hateful comments being made to staff and public order offenses. Annual crime figures released by the Central Statistics Office show there was a significant increase in theft offenses last year. Almost half of the more than 74,000 thefts and related...