MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Connecticut couple has been charged in Minnesota with being part of a shoplifting ring suspected of stealing about $1 million worth of merchandise across the country from the upscale sports apparel store Lululemon.
Gideon Anthony Richards, 44, and Aquili Nikesha Luz Richards, 45, both of Danbury, Conn., were charged this month with one felony count of organized retail theft. Both were released last week after posting bail bonds of $100,000 for him and $30,000 for her, court records show. They are scheduled to return to Ramsey County Court in St. Paul on December 16.
According to criminal complaints, a Lululemon investigator had been tracking the couple even before police first encountered them on Nov. 14 at a store in suburban Roseville. The detective told police the couple was responsible for hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses across the country, the complaints said. She added that they steal things and obtain fraudulent returns.
Police found bags containing more than $50,000 worth of clothing from Lululemon when they searched the couple’s room at a Bloomington hotel, the complaint said.
According to the investigator, they are also suspected of thefts from Lululemon stores in Colorado, Utah, New York and Connecticut, the complaint said. In Minnesota, they were also accused of robbing stores in Minneapolis and the suburbs of Woodbury, Edina and Minnetonka.
The detective said the two were part of a group that would typically travel to the city and hit Lululemon stores there for two days, then return to the East Coast to exchange items without receipts for new items, take back the new items with return receipts to get credit card refunds, and then return to commit more thefts, the complaint said. .
In at least some of the thefts, Richards would first enter the store and buy one or two inexpensive items, she added. He will then return to the sales floor where, with the help of Lawes-Richards, they will remove the security sensor from another item and place it on one of the items he has just purchased. Luz Richards and another woman then hide the leggings under their clothes.
Then they leave together. When the security sensors at the door went off, he would offer employees the bag containing the items he had purchased while the women continued to walk out, tricking employees into thinking it was his sensor that set off the alarm, the complaint said. .
Richards’ attorney declined to comment. Lawes-Richards’ public defender did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment Monday.
“This result continues to underscore our ongoing collaboration with law enforcement and our investments in advanced technology, team training and investigative capabilities to combat retail crime and hold criminals accountable,” Tristen Shields, vice president of asset protection at Lululemon, said in a statement. “We are committed to continuing these efforts to address and prevent this industry-wide issue.”
The two are being prosecuted under a state law passed last year that seeks to crack down on organized retail theft. One of its lead authors, Sen. Ron Latz of St. Louis Park, said 34 states already have organized retail crime laws on their books.
“I am pleased to see that it is working as intended to bring down criminal operations,” Latz said in a statement. “This type of theft harms retailers in countless ways, including lost economic activity, job losses, and threats to worker safety when the crime is not addressed. It also harms consumers through higher costs and the resale of compromised products online.” .
The two women were from Minnesota He was also charged under the new law In August. They were accused of targeting a Lululemon store in Minneapolis.
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