Prop 47 Continues to Fuel California's ORC Epidemic
'Sick and tired': Councilman rallies shop owners, law enforcement over millions in brazen retail thefts

CA's new ORC task force has led to 88 arrests & $1.1M in recovered merchandise since it was launched in September

Organized retail theft is rampant up and down California, and Fresno has not been left out of the shocking trend.  In an effort to connect with and educate the local retail community, Fresno City Councilman Mike Karbassi hosted a Retail Theft Summit at Fresno City Hall Tuesday evening.

Karbassi was joined by the California Retailers Association, the Fresno Chamber of Commerce, Fresno Deputy Police Chief Burke Farrah, Fresno County District Attorney Lisa Smittcamp and the California Highway Patrol.

In September, the CHP launched its Valley-based Organized Retail Crime Task Force. Since its launch, authorities have nabbed 88 arrests and recovered $1.1 million in assets swiped from retailers.

"You see these organized retail theft crews, they're very serious criminals," Smittcamp said. "They're gang members. They're not just stealing goods. They're participating in gun trafficking and human trafficking and a lot of other things. And these are dangerous people that you do not want around your associates, your family, your employees."

Farrah pointed to changes at the state level in recent years as having contributed to the worsening organized theft epidemic striking California. Previously, the police were able to take drug offenders that were on parole or probation and put them in a 90 day program to get treatment. That's no longer the case, Farrah said.

Smittcamp pointed to Proposition 47, which California voters approved in 2014 with nearly 60 percent of support. Prop. 47 reclassified felonies such as shoplifting, grand theft, receiving stolen property, forgery, fraud, writing a bad check and illegal drug use as misdemeanors if they were under $950 in total value or below a certain weight for drug use. The felony threshold was $400 before Prop. 47 was enacted.

Smittcamp also pointed to the fact that some crimes are automatically diverted, which lets criminals go without being convicted.  sjvsun.com

Calls Continue for Federal ORC Legislation
Opinion: Organized retail crime spans state lines; time for federal solution
Hidden impacts of the pandemic continue to reveal themselves across the retail industry, specifically when it comes to rampant theft. In Connecticut, organized retail crimes have cost the state about 8,000 jobs and more than $169 million in lost tax revenue each year. The operatives orchestrating these high-level schemes are working across state lines, stealing in mass quantities and selling them on major online marketplaces to unsuspecting consumers across the country.

In an effort to alleviate the impact of these crimes on Connecticut's local economy, Gov. Ned Lamont and Attorney General William Tong formed a task force charged with combating the state's organized robberies. Using its civil investigative and law enforcement resources, the attorney general's office plans to use this task force to thwart organized retail crime rings in Connecticut by having government entities work directly with the private sector. In addition to the installation of this task force in December, the Connecticut General Assembly passed a law that reestablished the crime of organized retail theft, allowing prosecutors to seek to charge the crime as either a misdemeanor or a felony.

Still, there is an inherent need for federal legislation that can span states like the Integrity, Notification, and Fairness in Online Retail Marketplaces (INFORM) Consumers Act that provides a coordinated approach to bringing together local, state and federal stakeholders. The INFORM Consumers Act requires online marketplaces to disclose the name, tax I.D., bank account information, and contact information of certain high-volume, third-party sellers. Through this approach, operatives will be less incentivized to coordinate smash-and-grab crimes because they will be unable to sell these stolen goods online.

Passing the INFORM Consumers Act not only helps Connecticut deal with crime in the tri-state area but can also help alleviate the impact of organized retail theft across the country.

As the end of the session draws near, now is the time to get this bipartisan bill through Congress and signed into law. There's virtually no reason it shouldn't pass, as it's universally endorsed by more than 75 trade groups, retailers, and e-commerce platforms; and has garnered the co-sponsorship of 67 Members of Congress from both sides of the aisle. If the midterms taught us anything, it's time to prioritize addressing crime and pass the INFORM Consumers Act. ctpost.com

Retailers Spending Millions to Fight ORC - Is It Working?
Walgreens CEO Sees Progress in Battle With Retail Crime Rings
Roz Brewer, the chief executive of Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc., said the company is locking up more products and working with other retailers to break up organized theft rings as the drugstore chain fights shoplifting.

Retailers are spending millions a year to thwart organized crime rings that steal from their stores in bulk and then peddle the goods online. Target Corp. recently said it was dealing with more theft in its stores.

Ms. Brewer, speaking at The Wall Street Journal's CEO Council Summit, said the company is having some success in cutting down on shoplifting.

She said Walgreens used to focus on locking down high-price items, but now it secures entire product categories. "What they do is come in and take one elbow and swipe the whole counter," she said.

Ms. Brewer called for legislation that makes it more difficult to sell stolen products online and lowers the threshold for how much a person must steal before it becomes a more serious charge.

"This is organized crime and has to do with how under state legislation you can only convict the person if they have stolen over $1,000," she said. "And these rings have figured out how to do this." wsj.com

Jan. 1: IL SAFE-T ACT Eliminates Cash Bail - Gov. OK's Arrests For Misdemeanors
Illinois governor signs amendment to criminal justice overhaul weeks before cash bail set to end

Outlining specific criteria for judges to determine whether defendants should be incarcerated while awaiting trial

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Tuesday signed into law changes to a controversial criminal justice overhaul that will eliminate cash bail beginning Jan. 1, making good on assurances he gave during his successful reelection campaign that the measure would be tweaked.

Democrats in the General Assembly approved the changes last week during their final session of the year, while Republicans continued to decry the law as a threat to public safety. The GOP made its opposition to the law one of the main themes of the just-completed campaign season in which voters rejected all GOP candidates for statewide office and left the party in superminority status in the legislature.

The changes to the law, clarify the process for shifting from the cash bail system to one that sets out specific criteria for judges to determine whether defendants should be incarcerated while awaiting trial.

The amendment also clarifies the standards that judges must follow when considering whether a defendant presents a danger to the public, and adds several offenses, among them aggravated robbery, second-degree murder and home invasion, for which judges can detain a defendant if they're deemed a threat to the community or another person.

The measure also seeks to make clear that police can arrest people for misdemeanors such as trespassing that generally require only a ticket, spelling out that arrests can be made if officers believe "the accused poses a threat to the community or any person" or if "criminal activity persists." An arrest can also be made if the alleged offender has "obvious medical or mental health issues" that pose a risk to their own safety.

The law still faces a legal challenge from about 60 state's attorneys across Illinois' 102 counties, including some Democrats, who joined a lawsuit against Pritzker and other top Democrats contending that the passage of the law violated the Illinois Constitution. A Kankakee County judge could issue a ruling on the lawsuit later this month. police1.com

Police Union Leader Rips Into NYC's 'Soft on Crime' Policies
NYPD union head rips policies that left spree killer on NYC streets despite two recent gun arrests
The outraged head of the NYPD union, in a blistering Wednesday attack, ripped the policies that allowed an oft-arrested criminal to twice slip through the legal cracks before his final deadly shooting spree and surrender.

"This perp is living proof of the dangers of our broken justice system -especially the watered-down parole standards," said PBA President Patrick Lynch of repeat offender Sundance Oliver. "Two people are dead and another injured because this violent recidivist was put back on the street."

The suspect in a recent three-borough crime wave was only free after a pair of gun arrests where his parole went unrevoked, with the most recent occurring barely three months before he faced new charges of murder, assault, menacing, criminal possession of a weapon, reckless endangerment and possession of stolen property.

"The Parole Board has discretion to hold people on extraordinary circumstances, and this appears to be one," said Richard Alborn, president of the non-profit Citizens Crime Commission. "Had he been held, you might have two people alive."

The heavily-tattooed Oliver, a reputed gang member, sports ink across his arms and neck, along with a facial tattoo reading "Rich Forever" and a rap sheet with more than two dozen arrests since 2009. nydailynews.com
 
Funny Moment When ORC Comes Up During Congressional Hearing
Kroger CEO McMullen Thanks Lawmakers for Efforts to Fight ORC
When Kroger Chairman and CEO Rodney McMullen praised Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois during last week's congressional hearing on the grocery chain's proposed $24.6 billion deal to buy Albertsons, McMullen left out a key word.

"First, thank you for all your support of organized retail crime," McMullen told Durbin. "It's a huge help, so I just wanted to mention that."

Quickly picking up on McMullen's omission, Durbin said, "My support in stopping organized retail crime." In fact, Durbin backs legislation to thwart the online sale of stolen and counterfeit goods. Durbin's correction sparked laughter in the audience of a U.S. Senate subcommittee hearing in Washington.

"Very much accepted as the modification, totally agree, senator," said McMullen. costar.com

CA's Prison Population Has Dropped 46% in Six Years
California announces plans to close 2 prisons, deactivate facilities at 6 others
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation on Tuesday, Dec. 6, announced it will close two prisons - one in Blythe and another in Kern County that is the state's last privately run prison - and deactivate facilities at six other prisons due to budget cuts and an inmate population reduction plan.

According to CDCR numbers, California prisons housed 173,000 inmates in 2006. As of Monday, Dec. 5, it was housing 92,552 prisoners. The declining prison population is, to a large degree, fueling the prison closures and deactivations of CDCR prison facilities.

Advocates for prison reform on Tuesday praised the CDCR's actions. mercurynews.com

San Antonio police increase efforts against retail thefts during holiday season

Senator, Highland Park shooting victims urge lawmakers to pass assault weapons ban

US: 101.1M Cases - 1.1M Dead - 98.4M Recovered
Worldwide: 651.7M Cases - 6.6M Dead - 627.9M Recovered

Private Industry Security Guard Deaths: 362   Law Enforcement Officer Deaths: 816

COVID Cases, Hospitalizations & Deaths

COVID Remains a Workplace Fear
People Still Worried About Catching COVID at Work

A recent Gallup poll found that one in four still say they are "very" (6%) or "moderately" (20%) concerned about being exposed to the coronavirus at work.

COVID-19 has not disappeared. In fact, cases are on the rise again. According to a New York Times, tracking tool the average test positivity rate is up 40% as reported by Barron's on Dec. 5.

"If we are going to see a big [COVID] surge, it's going to start to ramp up now," Jeffrey Shaman, Ph.D., an epidemiologist at Columbia University, told the newspaper. "And it's going to extend and probably peak in late December and early January."

This uptick has sparked discussions in California about bringing back mask mandates. During a press conference on Dec. 1, LA County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said that the largest county in the US had reached "medium" COVID-19 transmission levels and will require face coverings if it reaches the "high category", as reported by ABC News.

With that in mind employees still fear that they are concerned about being exposed to the virus at work. While the numbers have decreased, about one in four still say they are "very" (6%) or "moderately" (20%) concerned about being exposed to the coronavirus at work, while a third are "not too concerned" and 41% are "not concerned at all." ehstoday.com
 
West Coast COVID Cases Spiking

Return of the Indoor Mask Mandate in LA?
Dangerous weeks ahead in L.A. County as coronavirus suddenly surges
Case counts are climbing rapidly, sending increasing numbers of Angelenos to the hospital and raising the possibility of a renewed public indoor mask mandate that could arrive shortly after the new year.

But why is the nation's most populous county contending with such a significant spike? Some factors that may be at work include a shorter incubation period for the latest Omicron strain, meaning there would be a shorter period between when someone is exposed to the virus and when they become infected.

"People came back from Thanksgiving and pretty quickly were testing positive," county Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said. At her agency, "we had more people who tested positive right after Thanksgiving than we've ever had before," with transmission occurring during holiday gatherings, rather than at work. latimes.com

San Francisco COVID cases are spiking again, especially in these neighborhoods

Army is only service branch booting troops over COVID vaccine mandate

China rolls back isolation rules & testing requirements for public places

Could 2022 Be Sears' Final Christmas?
Is this the last Christmas for Sears?
The Sears in Jersey City, New Jersey is one of only 15 full-line Sears stores still open. Sears was once the world's largest and most important retailer. It has been a slow, quiet death for an iconic chain, whose groundbreaking catalog and anchor position at many malls nationwide once made Sears both the Amazon and the Walmart of its day.

The company that emerged from bankruptcy in early 2019 - with the overly optimistic name Transformco - owned 223 Sears and 202 Kmart stores nationwide. But less than four years later, it is barely on life support, as the miniscule brick-and-mortar footprint and lack of shoppers demonstrates.

Now experts say there's basically little to no reason to keep even the handful of stores it still has open.

"Sears has been going down the drain for a very long time. There's no chance of it being revitalized," said Neil Saunders, managing director at GlobalData Retail. "No one apart from Eddie Lampert knows why he's keeping these remaining stores open. You can't make the economics work with that volume of stores."

As for why Sears has hasn't yet pulled the plug, Saunders said, "It might be that in some contracts or agreements that there is a penalty if he closes all the stores. Or perhaps they're open because Eddie Lampert has a very strange view of business. He still seems to hold onto this illusion that he can bring it back. A lot of it could be about ego." cnn.com

DOJ's New Retail Order Impacts 200K Stores
Cigarette companies ordered to display health warning signs at retailers
Major cigarette companies will soon be required to post signs at retail locations warning of the health effects of smoking, the Justice Department announced. The order, set to go into effect on July 1, 2023, is the last in a broader series of court-ordered measures stemming from a 1999 lawsuit against cigarette companies, the department said in a release.

The retail signs will be "designed to be eye-catching" and will include warnings such as "Smoking cigarettes causes numerous diseases and on average 1,200 American deaths every day" and "The nicotine in cigarettes is highly addictive and that cigarettes have been designed to create and sustain addiction."

The order will apply to about 200,000 U.S. retail locations that have merchandising agreements with the cigarette companies, according to the department. The companies will have to amend their retailer contracts, then manufacture and distribute the required signs within six months of the order's start date.  cnbc.com

CNN: Economic data doesn't support gloom and doomers
It seems like you can't go anywhere these days without colliding headfirst into another ominous prediction of imminent recession. CEOs, portfolio managers, politicians, news pundits, second cousins and even Cardi B are sounding the alarm: Hear ye! Hear ye! Economic downturn awaits all who dare enter 2023!

But those predictions contradict the slew of positive economic data we've seen: The job market is healthy, wages are growing, Americans are spending and GDP is strong. Business is also good: Companies are largely beating revenue expectations and reporting positive earnings results.

The upside: Some parts of Wall Street seem to be avoiding the recession fervor. ​​A recent study by Goldman Sachs found that smart money is betting on a soft landing. cnn.com

TSA is ready for nationwide deployment of its facial recognition system
What started as a limited pilot project to test facial recognition technology could soon become the norm for screening and ID routines in all US airports. At least, that's what the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is planning for next year.

The TSA started using its biometric system in 16 US airports as an optional screening procedure requiring the traveler to insert their ID document and have their face scanned. The system is named CAT-2, and according to the TSA, it can successfully match a live photo captured against the image on the digital ID to verify a passenger's identity. techspot.com

Amazon's 'Just Walk Out' Tech Continues to Expand
Kansas City Indie to Feature Amazon's Just Walk Out Tech, Amazon One
Independent retailer Community Groceries has joined forces with Amazon to offer Just Walk Out technology and Amazon One in a Kansas City, Mo., grocery store for the first time, starting Dec. 16. It's also the first time that Amazon has expanded both technologies to a third-party customer's grocery store in the United States. progressivegrocer.com

The Top 100 Restaurants in America for 2022
OpenTable's Top 100 reveals fan favorites as year-end data shows a new vigor for dining out

Wawa to expand into three new states

Thrift Stores Including Goodwill Are Closing Locations, Starting Dec. 23

Big Lots Just Announced "An Accelerated Number of Closures"


Quarterly Results

Rent the Runway Q3 Active Subscribers up 15%, revenue up 31%

UNFI Q1 Unit sales down 3%, Retail sales up 2%, wholesale sales drove gains, total sales up 7.6%

Game Stop Q3 net sales down 8.5%

Sportsman's Warehouse Q3 comp's down 15%, net sales down 10.3%
 

Senior LP & AP Jobs Market

Director, Global Physical Security job posted for Coca-Cola Company in Atlanta, GA
As the Senior Director of Physical Security, you will be responsible for the implementation, delivery, and day-to-day ownership of the Company’s physical security standards and programs. You will work closely with the Company’s Global Workplace Teams to ensure security standards are built-in and implemented in a consistent framework ensuring system efficiency. You will be responsible for multiple budgets and projects running in parallel. careers.coca-colacompany.com

Senior Director, Regional Asset Protection job posted for Walmart in Carrollton, TX
Achieves region level shrink goals by implementing, prioritizing, and driving Asset Protection (AP) strategies, initiatives, and trainings (for example, shrink, criminal deterrence, investigation); analyzing data to determine trends in order to identify and develop strategies to address concerns (for example, organized retail crime rings, malicious versus non-malicious shrink differentiation);ensuring effective and timely execution from the regional AP team and AP support functions. walmart.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com

Senior Manager Asset Protection job posted for Bath & Body Works in Atlanta, GA
The Sr Manager, Asset Protection is responsible for directing, managing and executing all Asset Protection programs within a regional markets to achieve maximum shrink improvement and protection of company assets. This position is responsible for the effectiveness of asset protection programs and objectives through assessments, use of investigative exception reporting, and resolution of internal and external theft investigations. careers.bathandbodyworks.com
 

Genetec Report Highlights Cybersecurity Concerns
Cybersecurity concerns for access control rise as biometrics solutions grow
Physical security is "mission critical" for firms according to the 2022 State of Physical Security Report from Canada-based access control company Genetec. In the document, the firm also highlights cybersecurity concerns connected to vulnerable access control systems.

The company's report is based on insights from more than 3,700 physical security leaders worldwide. It aims to provide an overview of the security strategies organizations are deploying to navigate changing industry realities.

In this regard, 54 percent of end-user respondents indicated that their company's target vision for security deployment is a mix of on-premises and cloud-based solutions.

Furthermore, 64 percent of IT and 54 percent of security respondents said that cybersecurity tools are a primary focus this year. Roughly two-thirds (63 percent) of all respondents and seven in every ten organizations with more than 10,000 employees described physical security as "mission-critical."

The majority of respondents (64 percent) also confirmed they employ both video surveillance and access control solutions in their physical security deployments.

"Every organization wants to get their hands on the latest technology. However, faced with budget constraints, talent shortages, and ever-changing priorities, security leaders are required to do more with less," explains Pervez Siddiqui, vice president of offerings and transformation at Genetec.

"A unified security platform gives organizations a path to modernize their aging systems while leveraging their existing infrastructure. And they can do this without expensive and complex custom development."

Genetec also recently published a warning to organizations to be vigilant about the cybersecurity risk connected with legacy access control systems. biometricupdate.com

Zero Trust Architecture in Retail
Defining Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA) for the Retail & Hospitality Community

Here, we define zero trust for the retail and hospitality community using key elements from organizations such as Forrester, NIST, and Gartner.

In a practical sense, zero trust architecture is a group of cybersecurity capabilities; updated policies and practices that enable a company to limit the blast radius of any incident within their environment. A zero-trust framework starts with the assumption that a breach is inevitable, and your environment should be designed to be cyber resilient, or "anti-fragile", able to withstand an attack because user access controls and data and network security policies have been put in place to restrict lateral movement and limit the fallout of any impact.

What Does this Mean for Retail and Hospitality?

Zero trust was ranked in the top five CISO initiatives in RH-ISAC's 2021 CISO Benchmark Report. It has also been the topic of recent discussion in the forums on Member Exchange and the focus of a recent CISO call to share best practices for zero-trust implementation.

Zero trust is clearly on the minds of retail and hospitality leadership, and for good reason. It offers valuable benefits, such as preventing threat actors from moving laterally through your network and gaining access to critical resources. Zero-trust policies can also provide visibility into user behavior, reduce likelihood of data exfiltration, and enable effective remote work.

Achieving zero trust, however, is not always easy. Many organizations have legacy technology and network architecture that is incompatible with zero-trust principles, requiring significant review of current systems and investment in new solutions. The good news is zero trust doesn't have to be achieved all at once. Because it is a journey, you can apply some of the tenets of zero trust while you work towards a comprehensive zero-trust environment.

Start by defining the surface you need to protect and mapping the transaction flows. A huge part of architecting a zero-trust network is first simply understanding how traffic moves, what interdependencies exist, and who needs access to what, so when the technology is put in place it works and isn't hindering how you do business. rhisac.org

Yearslong Effort to Topple Online Criminal Marketplace
US Prosecutors Unspool xDedic Criminal Marketplace Cases

Marketplace Seized in 2019 Facilitated Over $68M in Fraud, FBI and IRS Say

A 2019 seizure by U.S. law enforcement of an online criminal marketplace is paying dividends for prosecutors unrolling prosecutions of accused fraudsters who allegedly obtained compromised credentials from the site.

Prosecutors unsealed four indictments charging three Nigerian nationals and one U.K. resident with conspiracy to steal Americans' personally identifiable information to obtain fraudulent tax refunds.

The prosecutions are the latest development in a yearslong effort to bring users and administrators of the xDedic marketplace to justice. Shortly after seizing the site in 2019, FBI and IRS officials estimated the site facilitated more than $68 million in fraud across the globe. Spanish authorities arrested accused site administrator Alexandru Habasescu, a Molodovan national, in the Canary Islands in March and extradited him to the United States on Nov. 21.

Habasescu faces a two-count criminal indictment for conspiracy to traffic in unauthorized access devices and for possessing more than 15 unauthorized access devices. If convicted, he faces up to 15 years in prison. govinfosecurity.com

New Web Software Module Introduced in PCI Secure Software
Standard Version 1.2
Today, the PCI Security Standards Council (PCI SSC) published version 1.2 of the PCI Secure Software Standard and its supporting program documentation. The PCI Secure Software Standard is one of two standards that are part of the PCI Software Security Framework (SSF). The PCI Secure Software Standard and its security requirements help provide assurance that payment software is designed, developed, and maintained in a manner that protects payment transactions and data, minimizes vulnerabilities, and defends against attacks. blog.pcisecuritystandards.org
 
Top 7 factors boosting enterprise cybersecurity resilience

7 reasons why you must embed trust into the core of your business

Grovetown, GA: Couple tricks Walmart cashier to get away with $6,400 worth of items
Two people managed to get away with stealing $6,400 in merchandise and gift cards from a Walmart in Georgia by confusing the cashier, officials said. The Columbia County Sheriff's Office said the theft happened at a Walmart in Grovetown on Nov. 30. Deputies said a man and a woman selected many expensive items at the store and took them to the checkout counter. They made several different credit card transactions with the cashier for all the merchandise, which also included gift cards. According to deputies, the pair also asked the cashier to use the "cash" button on the register in order for their credit card to work. This allowed the register to ring up the sale as if cash was being paid, so the credit card ultimately was not charged. Authorities said the thieves left with about $3,400 in merchandise and $3,000 in gift cards, having paid for none of it. The suspects are still on the run and have not yet been identified by authorities. kltv.com

Old Saybrook, CT: Police Look for Thief Accused of Stealing Merchandise, Assaulting CT Store Employee
Police are looking for a thief accused of assaulting and threatening to shoot an employee while fleeing a store with over $2,000 in stolen goods. Officials said they were called to Walmart at about 8 a.m. for a reported robbery. One man and two women entered the store, filled up two carriages of Legos and left the store without paying. While leaving the store, a loss prevention specialist tried to stop them, but the man hit them with his elbow and threatened to shoot them, according to authorities. The man has been identified as 36-year-old Glenn London and police believe he lives in the New Haven area. London is also accused in two other theft investigations from earlier this year. In both October and November, he allegedly stole $3,800 in Legos. "We must find and arrest those who choose to commit larcenies and robberies in our community," said Police Chief Michael Spera. "This type of behavior, including the attack and threats made to a Walmart Employee, are completely unacceptable. These local matters have national impacts, and they must stop." nbcconnecticut.com

Victoria, Canada: More than $8,000 in eyewear stolen from Oak Bay store
Police are keeping an eye out for the thief or thieves who stole thousands of dollars worth of merchandise from an optical store in Oak Bay late last month. On Nov. 30 at 3:59 p.m., officers were dispatched to an optical business in the 2000-block of Cadboro Bay Road following a commercial alarm and, when arriving on scene, found a smashed-out window. Approximately 40 pairs of eyewear frames were stolen from the store, with the estimated value of theft believed to be more than $8,000, according to police in a release. While RCMP's police dog service attempted to find the suspect or suspects responsible, no one was located, Oak Bay Police say. Forensic investigators from Saanich Police also examined the scene.  cheknews.ca

Selinsgrove, PA: Woman charged with felony for stealing on 20 occasions at Walmart
A woman stole more than $500 of items from the Selinsgrove Walmart store on at least 20 occasions, police say. Margaret Ann Black, 59, of Selinsgrove, was charged with felonies of retail theft and receiving stolen property for the alleged thefts that began on Aug. 21. Trooper Samuel Kuhns of state police at Selinsgrove says Black took a total of $584 of merchandise on 20 different occasions between Aug. 21 and Oct. 18.  northcentralpa.com

San Antonio, TX: Adult store burglars nab $7K of high-end sex toys and more

Memphis, TN: Women wanted for stealing $3K in hair extensions from beauty store

Fort Myers, FL: Police search for man who attempted to steal over $1,600 worth of Home Depot merchandise