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2012 Archives
Austin police bust the largest fencing operation in
Texas - with 8 people involved - they busted one female
selling tens of thousands of dollars in shoplifted
laundry detergent, batteries, shampoo, and other
cosmetic items at flea markets and from her southeast
Austin home and in Mexico. Maria Villegas, 40, has been charged with organized retail
theft, a state jail felony. Travis County Jail records
indicate that she is no longer in custody. Police say
Villegas and her husband, 48-year-old Nicholas Villegas,
were selling massive quantities of stolen items for
profit. Police are still searching for Nicholas Villegas
and have issued arrest warrants for six other suspected
accomplices, officials said. H-E-B and Target were
involved in the investigation. Austin police Officer
Dustin Smart says stolen goods with an estimated worth
topping $50,000 was stolen from Austin-area outlets and
$35,000 in goods were found in a home raid.
(Source
statesman.com) (Source
krgv.com) (source
kxan.com)
Target's advanced surveillance capabilities helps police
in Southington, Ct. tie a one man ORC thief to multiple
armed robberies at Cumberland Farms convenience stores.
Officers served a warrant on Michael G. Chapman, 33, at
Bristol Superior Court last week in connection with both
a shoplifting theft at the Target store on Executive
Boulevard in February and an armed robbery at the
Cumberland Farms convenience store on Queen Street in
December 2011. "Surveillance footage of his Jeep
Cherokee that was recorded and provided by officials
with the Target asset protection department showed the
connection to the December armed robbery," Southington
Police Sgt. Lowell DePalma said Monday. "With their
help, we were able to collect evidence that tied him to
both cases, as well as a third armed robbery that took
place in Wolcott." (Source
patch.com)
North Attleboro, MA. ORC couple busted stealing
merchandise from Ulta Beauty store off Route 1 Saturday
after stealing from the same store the Thursday before.
Inside his car, police say they found more than $900
worth of clothing allegedly stolen by the pair from four
stores at Emerald Square mall in North Attleboro. Jamie
Lynn Medeiros, 23, of Fall River, was arraigned Monday
in Attleboro District Court, where she was ordered held
in jail without bail because she is on probation for a
similar crime in which she was given a suspended jail
sentence. Medeiros was arrested with an acquaintance,
Steven Carvalho, 28, of Fall River. Carvalho, who has
previously served jail time for unarmed robbery and
larceny, was ordered held in jail on $3,000 cash bail.
Follow up may be in order for any ORC team looking at
losses in that area. (Source
thesunchronicle.com)
Identity theft ring leader pleads guilty to 50 felony
counts for stealing numerous identities to buy high-end
goods he then sold on eBay and Craigslist.
Between March 29, 2004, and April 15, 2007, Aragon led a
crime ring that included his wife, Clara Aragon, and six
co-defendants. One of them, hacker Guy Itzak Shitrit,
28, of Miami would obtain victims’ credit card numbers
and used them to encode forged credit cards. Christopher
Aragon and his co-defendants used the credit profiles
and personal identifying information of victims to make
fraudulent California driver’s licenses, credit cards
and gift cards, according to the DA. Christopher Aragon
hired women to shop for him. They traveled throughout
California and to Las Vegas to purchase the goods. Most
of the ring has already been sentenced.
(Source
patch.com)
Possible ORC connection - Husband and wife couple busted
stealing baby formula and Tide from Genuardi's in
Wynnewood. PA. (Source
delcotimes.com)
Colorado Deputy DA says ORC rings are using stolen cars
to transport stolen items and those stolen cars are
popping up at crime scenes. They're also
being taken apart and sold for parts. So basically
they're connecting auto theft with ORC. As did the
author of the book Black Market Billions - How ORC funds
Terrorism. (Source
9news.com)
Colorado's full Senate may vote this week on their ORC
bill that toughens penalties.
(Source
9news.com)
Identity Theft suspect’s death leads to funeral drive-by
shooting in Miami. A 21 year old man,
believed to be gang connected stole a credit card, used
it at the Aventura Mall, and then was chased by security
through a parking garage, which lead to him jumping over
a railing fatally landing 25 feet below. A rival gang is
believed to be responsible for shooting 14 people
outside the South Florida funeral home.
(source
local10.com)
Excerpts from
GAO-11-675: Efforts to Combat Organized Retail
Crime
The U.S. Government Accountability Office ORC report
June 2011
Leading Online Marketplaces Have Taken Steps to
Combat e-Fencing, but It Is Unclear If Additional
Federal Action Is Warranted
eBay, the Largest Online Marketplace, Has Recently
Taken Steps to Deter e-Fencing, but Varying Business
Models and Available Resources Impact Efforts of
Other Online Marketplaces
Recently eBay, the largest
online marketplace, has begun a series of efforts
designed to prevent the sale of stolen merchandise
on its site. The site maintains a “prohibited items”
list designed to prevent the sale of items subject
to federal regulations—including firearms, alcohol,
and tobacco products—and other items unlicensed for
sale, including stolen property. However, eBay’s
recent efforts have been designed to make it more
responsive to requests for information from both
retailers and law enforcement, both of which usually
need seller information from eBay to link stolen
merchandise to specific people. Prior to its recent
efforts, eBay provided seller information to
retailers and law enforcement when it was legally
required to do so through a subpoena, or other
appropriate legal process. In early 2008, eBay began
to change its approach to the issue of ORC, recently
developing a series of initiatives designed to more
easily provide information to retailers and law
enforcement alike.
For retailers, eBay developed the PROACT program,
providing a way for retailers to quickly submit and
receive information on eBay sellers they suspect of
selling stolen merchandise. The program currently
has 300 members. All retailers can submit a request
for information on a seller to eBay, and as of
January 2011, eBay had received 2,340 requests for
information. eBay’s PROACT investigators can provide
information requested, such as name, address, and
seller history. eBay PROACT investigators may also
help retailers with their investigations by
providing them with an undercover account, which may
be used to purchase merchandise they suspect is
stolen to help build a case, linking confirmed
fraudulent sellers—”bad actors,” in eBay terms—to
other users or accounts, and taking action on user
accounts, such as suspending them or pursuing
criminal action against them in concert with
retailers and law enforcement.
eBay also provides retailers with:
• eStop: On every product page, eBay has placed a
"Report Item" link, providing a mechanism to report
a listing violation, including stolen property. eBay
has indicated eStop has been used three times since
it was implemented in early 2010. However, eStop
requires retailers who want a listing removed to
affirm that the specific listing is stolen. Often,
they cannot make this affirmation without additional
information about the seller from eBay, which is one
of the reasons why eBay believes the tool has been
used infrequently.
• Exception reporting: For PROACT member retailers,
eBay is to create customized “exception reporting”
for those who request it. eBay will work with these
retailers to build reports on products frequently
stolen from their stores. As of May 2011, eBay has
created these reports for nine retailers. The
reports provide retailers with information showing
the top suspicious sellers of high-risk items based
on quantities, price points, and high-theft areas.
One retailer we interviewed uses these reports to
identify sellers that warrant additional
investigation—internally and within eBay—to
determine if the products that are being sold have
been stolen from their stores.
(Source
gao.gov)
Continued tomorrow
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