Busted! Feds nail grocery store theft ring [Video]
Federal investigators say they’ve broken up an elaborate theft ring that preyed on grocery shoppers in Washington and several other states. According to court documents, eight people are now facing charges in connection to a series of thefts that took place between July of 2014 and November of 2015. Detectives say the suspects traveled across the country, often using aliases, to steal wallets from people while they were shopping at grocery stores. The suspects allegedly used debit cards, credit cards, and personal checks found inside the stolen wallets to make unauthorized withdrawals from the victims’ bank accounts. Investigators say the thefts resulted in $230,000 lost by victims in Washington alone. Also, they say more than $500,000 was lost by victims in Minnesota, Oregon, California, Michigan, Texas, New Jersey, Ohio, and Utah. In King County, court documents list victims in Redmond, Bellevue, Kirkland, Issaquah, Tacoma, Seattle, Woodinville, Mercer Island, and Tumwater. They were targeted while shopping at various stores including Trader Joe’s, Metropolitan Market, Safeway, PCC Natural Markets, Haggen Food Grocery Store, QFC, Fred Meyer, and Whole Foods.
“The amount of money that they’ve taken, it’s mind blowing. It’s kinda like a movie, it seems a little unreal to me still,” said Katie Wallace. She became a victim in November of 2015. She was shopping at the Metropolitan Market on North Proctor Street in Tacoma when she was targeted. Surveillance cameras inside the store caught the suspects as they closed in on her shopping cart. “It just, it happened like that,” she said. “I didn’t even let go of my cart. My hands were on my cart the whole time. I looked away for literally two seconds to grab something and turn around. And by the time I went up front to pay, I realized my wallet was gone.” Within 30 minutes of taking her wallet, Wallace says the thieves had withdrawn $7,000 from her bank accounts. Reporters first interviewed Wallace in 2015, when the theft took place. She says her bank covered the money that was lost, but she always hoped the police would find the people responsible. Then this week, Wallace got her wish. A letter from the U.S. Department of Justice arrived at her home, letting her know that charges were filed. “To finally get a letter from the Department of Justice, saying that the people have been caught, it was pretty unbelievable,” said Ed Wallace, Katie’s husband. “We were just relieved.” The suspects are due in federal court in Seattle on Tuesday afternoon for a detention hearing. They’re also accused of laundering the stolen money by buying and selling homes in California. [Source: King5 News]
Theft scheme targeted retail stores; man faces charges
A Loxahatchee, Florida, man is facing charges of fraud and retail theft after he and an accomplice allegedly schemed to steal thousands of dollars from Home Depots throughout Palm Beach County as well as Martin and St. Lucie counties, according to an arrest report. Michael Johnson Hunnewell, 29, is facing seven counts of retail theft of $300 or more and fraud under $20,000. He was being held at the Palm Beach County Jail on Tuesday morning in lieu of $26,000 bail.The name of Hunnewell’s female accomplice is blacked out on the report, presumably because she has not been arrested.
The plan used by Hunnewell and the woman allegedly worked like this, as seen on surveillance video. The couple purchases laminate flooring, and the woman wheels the merchandise out of the store while Hunnewell keeps the receipt. Hunnewell then pushes another loaded cart of laminate flooring out the store. More than once, a store employee, according to the report, stops Hunnewell. Each time, Hunnewell shows his receipt and is allowed to leave with the stolen laminate. The Home Depots in Palm Beach County that were victims of the theft scheme included stores in Jupiter; Palm Beach Gardens; Delray Beach; Boca Raton; Royal Palm Beach; West Palm Beach; Lake Worth, and Palm Springs. The thefts took place over a three-month period and resulted in a theft of $6,965.66, the report said. The sheriff’s report did not specify which stores were targeted in either Martin or St. Lucie counties. [Source: PalmBeachPost]
Staples spinning off retail business
It’s official: Staples’ new private equity owner, Sycamore Partners, plans to split up the office supplies seller by spinning off its retail operations from its corporate sales unit. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Staples said it expects to separate its U.S. retail business and Canadian retail businesses into two separate Sycamore-affiliated entities. The carve out transactions would be independently financed and yield $1.35 billion for Staples Inc. Post-spinoff they would be run and managed independently, according to the filing. The remaining Staples business would then be the current North American Delivery unit, which includes Staples Advantage and Quill.com. To finance the transaction with Sycamore, Staples expects to take out a total of $4.25 billion in debt and will pay $145 million in fees and expenses related to the merger and carveouts, as well as another $156 million in fees related to the merger financing. A Staples spokesperson declined to comment or provide additional details about the transaction plans. [Source: RetailDive]
Massachusetts man pleads guilty to ATM, Apple store thefts
A Lawrence, Massachusetts, man charged with breaking into ATM machines in three states and robbing an Apple store of $120,000 worth of merchandise pleaded guilty to a multitude of crimes Thursday in Salem Superior Court. In all, David Barker, 40, pleaded guilty to 36 criminal counts including conspiracy, larceny of property valued over $250, malicious destruction of property, illegal possession of burglarious tools, breaking into a bank, receiving a stolen vehicle and more. Also, for probation violations, Barker was sentenced Thursday to six years in state prison to run concurrently with another four- to five-year sentence. He will return to court in March 2018 for formal sentencing for his convictions in the ATM breaks, robberies and related charges. A year ago, Barker was arrested and charged with the Apple store break-in along with burglaries in Massachusetts, Vermont and Maine over an eight-month span. Barker was subsequently indicted by the Essex County grand jury on larceny, burglary, money laundering and theft charges. The breaks netted more than $300,000, according to investigators. He was arrested last summer after an early morning raid at his home and that of an alleged accomplice, Efrain Montero. Lawrence and state police seized $82,400 in cash, a 9 mm Ruger handgun, burglary tools, gloves and masks they allegedly used during the break-ins. Six cars also were seized, including a luxury BMW, according to prosecutors.
Barker was part of a “organized retail crime” operation with a “breaking-and-entering crew” that scouted locations and disabled surveillance cameras as they approached the Apple store and ATMs, Assistant District Attorney Philip Mallard said. The crew broke through walls adjoining ATMs, disabled alarms and then retreated to see if police would respond, Mallard said. Barker was involved in ATM break-ins in Wellesley, Billerica and Hanover, Killington, Vermont, and Berwick, Maine. Most of the breaks netted tens of thousands of dollars. However, in Berwick, Maine, the crew allegedly escaped with $172,000, Mallard said. On Christmas 2015, Montero gave two of his children computers allegedly stolen from an Apple store in Mansfield two months earlier. The children registered the gifts online with Apple, providing police with a digital trail to the stolen merchandise, Mallard said in court previously. On Thursday, answering questions posed by Judge Kenneth Salinger, Barker said he was born in Lawrence and after dropping out of high school in ninth grade he later earned his GED in 2001. At the time of his arrest, he was working for an office furniture installation company, he said. Barker appeared in court Thursday wearing gray jail sweats. The judge allowed him one day to get his affairs in order at Middleton Jail before he is transferred to state prison. [Source: Eagle Tribune]
Delaware amends data breach notification law
As reported in BNA Privacy Law Watch, on August 17, 2017, Delaware amended its data breach notification law, effective April 14, 2018. The Delaware law previously required companies to give notice of a breach to affected Delaware residents “as soon as possible” after determining that, as a result of the breach, “misuse of information about a Delaware resident has occurred or is reasonably likely to occur.” The prior version of the law did not require regulator notification. The amendments include several key provisions.
Under the revised law, the definition of “personal information” is expanded and now includes a Delaware resident’s first name or first initial and last name in combination with any one or more of the following data elements:
- Social Security number
- Driver’s license or state or federal identification card number
- Account number, credit card number or debit card number in combination with any required security code, access code or password that would permit access to a financial account
- Passport number
- A username or email address in combination with a password or security question and answer that would permit access to an online account
- Medical history, treatment or diagnosis by a health care professional, or DNA profile
- Health insurance identification number
- Biometric data
- An individual taxpayer identification number.
Companies will be required to offer credit monitoring services to affected individuals at no cost for one year if the breach includes a Delaware resident’s Social Security number. California’s breach notification law contains a similar requirement. [Source: Hunton & Wiliams Law]
LP Worldwide: This man fell victim to ID fraud an incredible 29 times
A former company director has warned of the dangers of identity fraud, after scammers applied for 29 financial products in his name. The East Midlands man first realized he’d fallen victim to ID fraud after being posted a Laura Ashley credit card he had not applied for. It later emerged that scammers had used his personal details to apply for eight credit cards; seven current accounts; six loans, and five mail order accounts. Upon receiving an unsolicited credit card, the man immediately contacted the company’s fraud department and had his details added to the Credit Industry Fraud Avoidance System (Cifas), a not for profit fraud prevention company, who maintains a victim of fraud database. Around £100 ($128) had been spent on credit cards in his name before the fraud was identified and stopped. He said: “In subsequent months I found out the fraud was more prolific than I had anticipated. If the fraud hadn’t been identified and stopped, the fraudster could have racked up thousands of pounds worth of debt in my name.” This worrying case of fraud was revealed by credit reference agency Equifax, which stated that fraudsters could have gained access to his details from Companies House, “as he had previously been a company director.” According to fraud prevention body Cifas, company directors make up almost one in five (19%) of ID fraud victims, despite comprising less than 9% of the population. Data from Cifas also shows that 17% of company-director victims have been hit by ID fraud more than once. [Source: Which?]
Miami man arrested in North Carolina, charged with credit card fraud ring
A suspect from Florida was arrested for stealing financial card information as part of a larger traveling crime ring, according to police in Lexington, North Carolina. Carlos Javier Abreu Morera, 24, of Miami, Florida, was charged with three counts of financial card forgery and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia. According to the arrest report, Morera stole account numbers from RBD Royal Bank, Colonial Bank and Bank of America then added that information to fraudulent debit cards. Captain Michael Hunt said Morera has been under investigation by other agencies. Police said Morera is a part of a credit card ring that travels up and down the interstate committing financial card thefts. Morera is being held under a $250,000 secured bond. His court date is October 2. [Source: The Dispatch]
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