Sean Colarossi named ORC Association Advocate at the D&D Daily
With Organized Retail Crime continuing to escalate throughout North America and in conjunction with the Daily's roll-out this year of the ORC Resource Center, we're proud to announce Sean's new responsibilities. This will allow us to truly focus on those executives and associations involved in the fight and actually have an individual on our team dedicated to representing them and ensuring that their message, their stories and their efforts are communicated and shared throughout the industry.

With the hopes of impacting legislation in the final sixteen states that don't have ORC laws, we at the Daily are committed to providing the information that may add value to that effort
-Gordon Smith, Retail Crime & ORC Editor

Lake in the Hills, IL: Feds accuse a man of a $310,000 gift card scam
Salvatore Cribari, 59, faces nine counts of wire fraud in connection with the scam against the chain of home improvement stores, according an announcement from the U.S. attorney's office in Rockford. Authorities said Cribari, also known as Sal Fradillio, was arrested Thursday in Algonquin. Cribari pleaded not guilty to the charges when he was arraigned Thursday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Iain D. Johnston. Cribari will remain detained pending a hearing set for Monday in federal court in Rockford. Prosecutors, who did not name the store chain, said the Lake in the Hills man worked the fraud by first stealing merchandise from northern Illinois stores. Cribari then portrayed the items as legitimately purchased and returned them without receipts, according to authorities. As part of the scheme, Cribari provided store employees with roughly 1,300 false Illinois driver's license and state identification numbers when he made the returns and received about $340,000 in gift cards in exchange, authorities allege. dailyherald.com

UPDATE: Pittsburgh, PA: Organized theft ring targeted Marshalls, TJ Maxx stores
Four people pleaded guilty to operating what police called an "organized retail theft ring" that targeted Marshalls and TJ Maxx stores in the Pittsburgh area. The targeted stores included those in Collier Township, Homestead, Monroeville, the city of Pittsburgh, Richland Township, Robinson Township, Ross Township, Scott Township, West Mifflin, Cranberry Township, and Peters Township. More than 60 crimes were identified by store surveillance and return records involving Yolanda Wiley, David T. Witherspoon, Jonathan E. Smith and Angela M. Priore. All four individuals pleaded guilty Thursday before Judge A. Mariani on August 25. Full restitution of $16,308.98 was ordered at the trial proceedings. wpxi.com

Houston, TX: Woman sentenced to federal prison in passport info theft case
A Houston woman will spend more than three years in prison for her role in a scheme to steal more than 1,500 identities from U.S. passport offices in Houston and Atlanta, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Houston announced Thursday. Alicia Myles, 31, pleaded guilty in October 2015 to aggravated identity theft and wire fraud. She was part of a group that used private passport information to create fake Texas identification documents that were then used for credit applications. Myles and others used the bogus identities to purchase electronic items such as iPhones and iPads that get a good resale value, officials said. chron.com

Phoenix, AZ: Three person crime ring steals $9500 in cigarettes, frozen food from Circle K stores
PPolice report Lydia Perea, Martine Marquez and Jeff Alex Waltman entered a Circle K store. They went into the "employees only" area behind the cash registered allegedly grabbed 90 cartons of cigarettes worth nearly $7,000. Police say 20 days later, Marquez and Perea burglarized another Circle K. For a second time, they went into the "employee only" area. This time, the suspects took cigarettes and crates of frozen food worth about $2,600. All three have been arrested and are facing burglary charges. abc15.com


Flowood, MS: 3 Cuban Nationals arrested for credit card fraud in Mississippi
Three Cuban Nationals have been arrested in connection with cloned credit cards. Yeoslan Mendoza Maure, Erick Reyes Cortes and Pedro Ramos Cainet were attempting to use the cards at a convenience store before being caught late Wednesday. Officers recovered 50 cloned cards, each containing compromised credit or debit card information on the magnetic strip of the cards, which leads to fifty potential victims. wbrc.com


Milpitas, CA: Four people arrested in for identity theft and drug possession
It happened on Sept. 8 around 1 p.m. when police received reports of suspicious people at the Staybridge Suites. The people were seen holding large bags and walking back and forth from the hotel lobby to three cars inside the parking lot. 32-year-old Holly Mikaele of Fremont and 34-year-old Ngaoi Nguyen were spotted when police first arrived on scene. Police searched a Lexus Mikaele was standing next to. Inside the car, there were fake driver licenses with Mikaele's picture on it. Police found a BMW belonging to Nguyen and found credit card embosser, multiple printers, a laminator, and fake driver licenses with personal information of several people. kron4.com

Lake Havasu City, AZ: Alexandra T. Stath, 28, faces a felony charge for organized retail theft when police say she attempted to place $205 worth of merchandise in her purse and shopping cart and leave the store