ORC Cases from the Week of November 8-12


Multi-million dollar heist: Former trucker among guilty
QUEENS, N.Y. — A former New York truck driver has been sentenced to up to 11 years in prison after pleading guilty in September to holding more than $2.5 million in stolen Gucci and Chanel designer merchandise. According to Queens, New York, District Attorney Melinda Katz, David Lacarriere, 34, was part of a larger plot to steal more than $4 million in luxury items from the John F. Kennedy International Airport. The criminal enterprise began in May 2020, Katz said. Lacarriere and another defendant, who was previously sentenced, were caught with jewelry, handbags, ready-to-wear clothes, sneakers and other accessories.

“Millions of dollars’ worth of designer merchandise was illegally hauled off airport property by a crew of bandits who used forged cargo shipment receipts to gain access to an importer/exporter warehouse,” Katz said. “Keeping our airports in Queens safe and secure is a top priority of my office. Two of the defendants have now been sentenced by the court for their roles in this brazen heist.”
Lacarriere, of Columbus Avenue in Manhattan, pleaded guilty in September to criminal possession of stolen property in the first degree, a B felony, before Queens Supreme Court Justice Gene Lopez. He was sentenced on Nov. 8.

Co-defendant Oscar Asencio, 33, of 88th Street in Elmhurst, Queens, pleaded guilty in August to criminal possession of stolen property in the third degree, also before Justice Lopez, who sentenced Asencio on Aug. 16 to 3.5 to six years in prison.

According to court documents, on May 17, 2020, forged documents were used to gain access to a cargo importer facility at the Kennedy airport, where the theft crew made away with a large shipment of high-end, designer merchandise in an 18-wheeler.
Port Authority Police recovered the abandoned semi trailer used in the heist on May 29, 2020, on 56th Road in Maspeth, New York.
Inside, police found only shipping pallets, shipping tags, wrapping material and display cases.

In an effort to erase evidence, the trailer was doused with bleach, police said.

Katz said the investigative team utilized physical investigative techniques, surveillance, as well as GPS and an extensive video canvassing to track Lacarriere and his co-conspirators to a non-operational beauty salon believed to be used as a stash house for the stolen goods.

Port Authority Police and the JFK FBI Task Force put the location – Candi World Beauty Bar at Guy R. Brewer and 147th Avenue in Jamaica – under physical surveillance. Defendant Asencio, according to court records, helped protect the stolen merchandise in the stash location. Asencio was seen on surveillance video carrying bags filled with the stolen property in and out of the building. Katz said that while observing what appeared to be a sale of some of the stolen property on June 3, 2020, the investigative team froze the Candi World location.

Spotting the authorities, Lacarriere ran from police and hid inside the building. The investigative team executed a court-authorized search warrant for the location, searched the site, and found Lacarriere hiding in a closet. Additionally, police discovered mountains of boxes stuffed with the stolen designer goods – still in the manufacturers’ packaging, according to court documents.

In all, police recovered more than 3,000 authentic Gucci items – clothes, handbags and other accoutrements. They also recovered just over 1,000 authentic Chanel products – purses, jewelry, sunglasses, shoes and other accessories. The value of the recovered merchandise totaled more than $2.5 million. Katz said the investigation and prosecution uncovered a weakness in the security of the region’s air cargo industry. Working with the Port Authority and the Transportation Security Administration, improved safety and security measures have been implemented, she said. thetrucker.com

Southington, CT: Thieves stealing from stores as people watch
Brazen shoplifting incidents where people just walk out of stores with hundreds of dollars of items as others look on. The most recent incident happened in Southington last night. Three people loaded a cart and headed for the doors. They knocked the manager to the ground when the manager tried to stop them. The manager was injured. We are learning that these types of brazen grab and go incidents are unfortunately becoming increasingly more common. Especially now during the pandemic, people are wearing masks and that makes them even harder to identify. The video that has gone viral. It’s from an Oxford grocery store earlier this week where people are seen loading grocery carts full of items into likely stollen cars and getting away with it as people videotaped it. Now police in Southington say there have been similar incidents at the BJ’s, a Stop and Shop and a ShopRite in town. They say a woman on Sunday stole more than $700 work of merchandise at the ShopRite on Queen Street. When an employee tried to stop her, she pulled out a hypodermic needle and threatened to stab the employee. wfsb.com

Polk County, FL: Winter Haven Man Charged In Lowe's Theft Spree; items include a $2,000 lawn mower
Levin, who has three previous theft convictions in 1990, 1995 and 2001, has been charged with three counts of felony petit theft. Police said that Levin has been previously 34 felonies, 47 misdemeanors and has been sent to state prison five times. "This suspect is the prime example of why our agency has an Organized Retail Crime Unit. We work hand-in-hand with asset protection and loss prevention personnel at stores all over the county — they are the eyes and ears in the stores, giving us the information we need to make cases against organized retail crime," Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said in a news release. "Retail theft affects everyone — it drives up costs for retailers and consumers." patch.com

North Olmsted, OH: Felony Thief returns to Guitar Center
Police at 7:25 p.m. Nov. 5 arrested a suspect who was wanted on a felony theft warrant after he returned to the store where he was accused of the theft. A Guitar Center employee on Nov. 5 called police to report the man’s return. The suspect on Sept. 25 had been in the store and left carrying a guitar and an amplifier valued at $2,000. He did not pay for the items, according to a police report. At that time, the police filed a felony theft charge against the man. The store knew the man’s identity because he was a regular and had sold equipment back to the store in the past. Police were not immediately able to locate the suspect to serve the warrant. When the suspect returned to the Guitar Center store on Nov. 5, the felony warrant from the Sept. 25 incident was still active. cleveland.com

Miami, FL: Crook swipes copper from North Miami Home Depot, ditches haul and flees when caught
Police are looking for a shoplifter who, they said, helped himself to hundreds of dollars in copper at a Home Depot store in North Miami. According to North Miami Police, the subject used a bucket to shoplift the merchandise from the store located near Northeast 121st Street and Biscayne Boulevard, Nov. 2. wsvn.com

Guam: 2 charged in Home Depot thefts
Two people were placed under arrest in connection to thefts reported at a store in Tamuning. James Bryan Taisipic, 41, was charged with retail theft as a third-degree felony and possession of a Schedule II controlled substance as a third-degree felony, according to magistrates reports filed at the Superior Court of Guam. The man was allegedly caught trying to steal $1,481.59 worth of items from the Home Depot on Thursday. In a separate incident, Estephany Marie Benavente Reyes, 38, was charged with retail as a third-degree felony and two counts of criminal trespass as a petty misdemeanor. According to court documents, the suspect was spotted at the store after employees recognized she was involved in a theft reported last month. She was seen on surveillance camera allegedly stealing $631.91 in merchandise.  postguam.com

Nashville, TN: Man charged in the theft of nearly $5000 worth of merchandise from Titans Pro Shop
23-year-old #BoosterClub member Orlexus Elliott is charged in the theft of $4,720 worth of Titans Jerseys from the pro shop on November 5th. Orlexus and another female, whose arrest is pending, entered the Titans Pro Shop at 1 Titans way earlier this month, grabbed all the jerseys they could, and fled the store, fleeing in a black Nissan Murano convertible. Nashville has a thriving underground of ‘boosters’ who steal racks of items from stores to sell online. As soon as police initially interviewed Elliott about this theft, she removed the stolen items from her social media, where she had the jerseys listed for sale, and offered to arrange to have them returned. Police gave her time to do that, however, she never followed through. She was booked into the Metro Nashville Jail Thursday, charged with felony theft. She is free on a $2,500 bond. scoopnashville.com

Nashville, TN: Woman, two men wanted for Armed Robbing East Nashville Clothing store
Metro police are searching for a woman and two men who robbed a clothing store in East Nashville Tuesday evening. Police say the group robbed Young’s Fashion on Gallatin Avenue at around 6 p.m. Tuesday. The suspects tried to leave the store with armloads of merchandise when the manager stopped them. One of the suspects then held up a handgun, forcing the manager to retreat. Another staff member stepped up to try and stop the group, causing the suspect with the gun to fire a shot, shattering the glass window, according to police. wkrn.com

Colonial Heights, VA: Police looking for man who stole $1,500 in merchandise from Walmart

Austin, TX: Local robotics team has $10,000 worth of equipment stolen from shop