Authorities are investigating a theft ring involving two men -- one who disguised himself as a woman -- who may have targeted Home Depot stores in three states, according to an article in The Daily Oklahoman.

A case that started with a group of Home Depot customers reporting two suspected shoplifters in Beaverton, Ore., has produced its first conviction. William Hazelwood, 35, pled guilty to one count of first degree theft and was sentenced to 1.5 years of probation and ordered to pay attorney fees, plus an assessment and surcharge, according to an article in The Oregonian.

Two members of a retail theft ring charged with stealing more than $100,000 worth of merchandise from Lowe’s stores in five western states were convicted of multiple felony counts by a federal jury in the western district of Washington State. 

A group of Home Depot customers in Beaverton, Ore., helped authorities solve a dozen shoplifting cases involving close to $500,000 in stolen merchandise from a variety of businesses, according to an article in the Portland Tribune.

Shoplifting, employee or supplier fraud, organized retail crime and administrative errors cost the retail industry $41.7 billion in the United States in 2011, representing 1.6% in sales, according to the Global Retail Theft Barometer released Tuesday by Checkpoint Systems. Of that, $18.4 billion was attributed to employee theft, $14.9 billion to shoplifters, $6.6 billion to internal error and $1.8 billion to suppliers.

Copper shoplifting is on the rise at home improvement stores across the country, but in the Fort Meyers, Fla., area, thieves may have come up with a novel way to steal the valuable metal. According to a story in the Fort Myers News Press, two men have been arrested for repeatedly shoplifting items from a Lowe’s store in Cape Coral, Fla., returning the items for store credit and then purchasing copper tubing, which they would sell to a recycling yard.

Shoplifting, employee theft and organized crime have combined to boost retail shrinkage to 1.58%, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF). These preliminary results, compiled from a survey conducted by Dr. Richard Hollinger of the University of Florida, compare with a 1.44% shrinkage rate in 2009.

According to the survey, total retail losses cost retailers $37.1 billion last year, up from $33.5 billion in 2009. NRF’s recently released Organized Retail Crime survey found that 95% of retailers have been victims of organized retail crime over the last 12 months.

Stealing merchandise from a home improvement store is not considered a minor crime in Massachusetts, where state police used three K-9 officers and ATVs to chase two suspected shoplifters through the woods on May 15.

A story under the headline “Sitting down on the job: The lawsuit” generated several letters, including the following:


Police in Macon, Ga. have arrested two men they believe are part of a shoplifting ring that targeted Home Depot and Lowe’s stores throughout the state and also in Miami, according to an article in the Macon Telegraph.

Albuquerque, N.M., police have arrested a man accused of shoplifting tools from a Lowe’s store on Jan. 20 and then trying to sell them to undercover officers 15 minutes later, according to an article in the Albuquerque Journal.  

A K-9 officer in pursuit of two suspected shoplifters was able to recover tools stolen from a Lowe’s store in Burlington, N.C., according to a report by the Burlington Police Department.

On Dec. 12 at 4 p.m., a Sears loss prevention officer notified police of a larceny in progress and provided a description of both the suspect and the getaway vehicle, a white Chevrolet Lumina. When police arrived on the scene, they observed the vehicle nearly strike a pedestrian before it left the Sears parking lot and crashed into a tree.