A shoplifting ring that stole practically $2 million in garments and sweetness merchandise from Macy’s and different well-known shops within the U.S. after which resold them in New York Metropolis and the Dominican Republic has been busted, legislation enforcement officers introduced Tuesday.
5 New Yorkers have been charged with felony possession of stolen property, conspiracy and different associated crimes, Queens District Legal professional Melinda Katz stated.
The bust served as a reminder to buyers as the vacation purchasing season kicks off in earnest with Black Friday this week to verify they’re supporting respectable institutions, she stated.
“When a deal seems too good to be true, I guarantee you, it’s too good to be true,” Katz stated.
Nationally, companies lose roughly $100 billion and the typical household pays $500 extra a 12 months due to the impression of organized retail theft, in line with New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, who joined the district legal professional and different legislation enforcement officers in Queens.
The Democrat stated the arrests additionally marked the primary time anybody has been charged below a brand new prison statute of fostering the sale of stolen items that she lately signed into legislation to assist crack down on retail theft.
“This is real simple. We’ve had enough with criminals preying on our citizens,” Hochul stated. “We are sick and tired of our citizens feeling they’re vulnerable to random crimes on the streets or these sophisticated organized crime rings. And we are coming after you.”
Katz, the district legal professional, stated the group stole high-end make-up, fragrance, magnificence merchandise, designer clothes and niknaks from shops starting from Macy’s to Victoria’s Secret, American Eagle, Sephora and Ulta Magnificence over a roughly two-year interval.
The group’s leaders, married couple Cristopher Guzman and Yvelisse Guzman Batista, directed shoplifting crews to steal particular merchandise as they hit a number of shops in New York, New Jersey, Maryland and elsewhere alongside the East Coast, she stated.
In addition they paid truck drivers to divert merchandise sure for retailers from producer warehouses on to areas below their management.
The group, working out of a house in Queens, then resold the merchandise on-line in addition to at a brick-and-mortar boutique referred to as Yvelisse Vogue in Santiago, a metropolis within the Dominican Republic.
Vince Scala, a lawyer for the couple and two of the opposite defendants, stated his shoppers pleaded not responsible at their arraignment Saturday. They had been launched pending their subsequent courtroom date in January.
“The charges are only a couple of days old, and I have not seen a single piece of evidence, discovery or police reports,” he stated. “I look forward to reviewing the case at the appropriate time.”
Tuesday’s announcement is a part of a broader push from Hochul to counter Republican criticisms that Democrats in New York are gentle on public issues of safety, a problem that damage her social gathering within the 2022 midterm elections and has remained a constant speaking level for the GOP.
Earlier this 12 months, Hochul signed off on a handful of insurance policies aimed toward cracking down on retail theft, together with elevated prison penalties for assaulting retail employees, new funding for legislation enforcement groups devoted to retail theft and tax credit for companies to put in safety cameras.
She additionally permitted insurance policies that enable prosecutors to mix the worth of stolen items when submitting larceny costs and made it simpler to criminally cost third-party sellers of stolen items.
Retail theft has additionally been a priority elsewhere.
Movies of brazen shoplifting crews rampaging by shops have been extensively shared on social media, fueling widespread frustration that retail crime is rampant and unpunished.
Earlier this month, California voters overwhelmingly handed a tough-on-crime poll measure that makes shoplifting a felony for repeat offenders once more.
The measure partly rolled again a progressive legislation handed by voters a decade in the past downgrading a number of nonviolent crimes to misdemeanors, together with theft below $950 in worth.
Related Press reporter Anthony Izaguirre in Albany contributed to this story.
