Amazon Fulfillment Center employee in Moreno Valley, CA accused of stealing $250,000 in merchandise  An employee at the Amazon Fulfillment Center in Moreno Valley was in custody Tuesday, suspected of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars in jewelry and other items intended for online shoppers. Miguel Angel Verdin, 40, of Moreno Valley was being held on $250,000 bail, after the San Bernardino County sheriff's burglary suppression team and loss prevention employees from the distribution center determined that he stole merchandise on numerous occasions, dating back to 2014, sheriff's Sgt. Aaron Kent said. Verdin was taken into custody at about 4 p.m. Monday at the distribution center in the 24000 block of San Michele Road. He is scheduled to make his first court appearance on Wednesday. A search of Verdin's car and his home in the 13000 block of Black Elm Court turned up a stash of stolen property, including diamond rings, watches and other merchandise valued more than $250,000, Kent said. cbslocal.com


Denver, CO Couple sold $60,000 in baby formula shoplifted from Albertsons - Safeway supermarkets  A couple has been arrested in connection with a shoplifting ring that "boosted" more than $60,000 in baby formula from Albertsons-Safeway stores in the metro Denver area, police said Tuesday. The Denver District Attorney's office has charged Donald Dowling, 39, and Danielle Smith, 33, with felony theft by receiving. The Arvada couple is accused of buying the stolen baby formula - along with stolen baby bottles and health and beauty products - from shoplifters and reselling it on Amazon.com and Craigslist.org. Dowling was also charged with felony manufacturing of marijuana concentrate after Denver police said officers executing a search warrant at his home realized there was also a make-shift hash oil manufacturing lab on the back porch. The investigation started on April 23, when an investigator for the Albertsons-Safeway Organized Retail Crime team learned that security officers had caught a shoplifter stealing $465 worth of baby formula from a Safeway store in Wheat Ridge, the affidavit states. The shoplifter was willing to give up information about a theft ring stealing baby formula from the supermarket chain's metro area stores and selling it to an Arvada couple. The Albertsons-Safeway investigator told Denver police that, during a six-month span, more than $40,000 in baby formula had been stolen from their stores in Denver and more than $60,000 from stores across the metro area. Albertsons-Safeway investigators went undercover with the shoplifter-turned-informant. thedenverchannel.com

Philadelphia woman found guilty of stealing $35K in cellphones from Verizon NJ stores  A Philadelphia woman was found guilty Tuesday of stealing more than $35,000 in cellphones from two stores, the Gloucester County Prosecutor's Office announced. A jury convicted Fatima M. Aviles, 27, on four counts of third-degree burglary and three counts of theft in connection with the thefts from Verizon stores in Glassboro and Washington Township in 2013. Aviles entered the stores while they were closed on four occasions using a key issued to employees that would open various stores in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, prosecutor's explained. Two Verizon employees who viewed surveillance camera video of the burglar stuffing phones into a duffel bag and backpack identified Aviles as the intruder, prosecutor Dianna Reed-Rolando said. Both also testified that Aviles was friends with a woman who previously worked at a Verizon store in Pennsylvania. That employee had left her job without returning her store key. The former employee could not be located during the investigation, according to the prosecutor's office, but has not been charged in the case. The phones were never recovered. nj.com

3rd Jacksonville, FL man Pleads Guilty in Counterfeit Scheme Involving $32,600
A third Jacksonville man has pleaded guilty in a counterfeit scheme involving $32,600 of bogus bills in Florida and Georgia, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Timothy Larry Malden, 44, faces 20 years in federal prison for aiding and abetting the passing of counterfeit Federal Reserve notes. Malden and 35-year-old William Brinkley Jr. drove counterfeiter Christopher Jon Kirkland, 41, to local businesses to attempt to pass fake $20s and $100s by purchasing merchandise and reloadable gift cards. The scheme persisted from August 2013 to December 2013, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Both Brinkley and Kirkland have also pleaded guilty in the scheme. jacksonville.com

$599 in merchandise taken from Market Common Victoria's Secret store in Myrtle Beach, SC  Officers were called about 3 p.m. Tuesday to the Victoria's Secret store at the Market Common shopping center where a 35-year-old woman reported the incident. The victim told police that she saw the suspect lingering at the front of the store near a shirt display with a large bag. The victim said she heard the bag rustling and went to investigate when the suspect ran out of the store, police said. The victim then noticed that about 12 Pink-brand t-shirts, valued at $599, were missing. No arrests had been made in connection with the theft as of Wednesday morning. myrtlebeachonline.com