A sophisticated, multimillion-dollar theft ring used a 7,600-square-foot warehouse as a business hub to store stolen items from southeastern Michigan retailers and resell them on the Internet, USA Today reported.
Over-the-counter drugs and other goods were lifted from area stores as part of a shoplifting ring, veteran investigators said. In the largest theft ring to have ever been reported, as much as $15,000 a day was swiped by the perpetrators.
Before being discovered last month by drug investigators, the illegal business was operated for years, Michael Bouchard, Oakland County Sheriff, said.
He called it "amazing in size and shape," according to USA Today.
"They bought this warehouse about nine months ago for $200,000 in cash," the sheriff said. "They were generating enough cash that they could plunk down $200,000 in cash to buy a facility to expand their operations."
After storing the stolen items in the warehouse, the ring operators sold them on the Internet using eBay, Amazon.com and other sites, investigators said.
"Bouchard said the investigation so far shows three women served as the shoplifters, stealing high-value items like cold medicine, antacids and other over-the-counter drugs from local CVS and Walgreens pharmacies," USA Today reported. "They were given shopping lists of which items to target, Bouchard said."
Between $9,000 and $15,000 was stolen each day through the use of specially modified clothes in order to conceal their loot. Following that, they delivered it to the warehouse and got paid $2,500 a day in cash for their efforts, he said.
Inside the warehouse, investigators found $75,000 in cash, about $30,000 in merchandise from CVS and Walgreens, $10,000 in items stolen from other stores and more than $3 million in perfumes, lotions and creams stolen from Victoria's Secret in Las Vegas, USA Today reported.
"I guess what happens in Vegas doesn't stay in Vegas because now it's in Hazel Park," Bouchard said.
"All five suspects were released on bond after being charged with organized retail crime and receiving and concealing stolen property, felonies with a maximum penalty of five years in prison," USA Today reported.
