Florida Shoplifters Caught in the Act

now to the big business of shoplifting it's not just a problem for the stores it's affecting you too tonight we're undercover as police prepare to bring down one highly organized shoplifting ring and the woman they believe could be the key to it all here's ABC's Matt Gutman it is a 13 billion dollar at the Deming shoplifters across America are costing close to thirty five million dollars a day to retailers and the numbers keep growing as seen on these YouTube flash mob videos that your brazen enough to steal anything and everything but while shoplifting out in the open is one way to do it down in Polk County Florida there's a much more sophisticated method alright Todd they're approaching the store right now that what you were watching investigators say it's an organized shoplifting ring in action in this case the suspect Melinda Ford aka puffy is about to hit the dressing room but Bella's department store in Florida right now what we're seeing is our main target in the store last year we were given access to an unfolding investigation to a crime that starts the sleight-of-hand and ends up costing all of us big money cops tell us that puffy is their prime suspect they call her the booster and they believe she could be the key to bringing down a multi-layered florida shoplifting ring brand be picking up another individual we have one occupant in one suspect that's why it's charging Jim Austin check from the Polk County Sheriff's Office I spent nearly a month chasing puffy and she moves from store to store all right we're in hot pursuit right now westbound Brewster downs number two lane westbound on i-4 I'm exactly sure where she's going but we're falling over the last three years shoplifting has become a growing national problem stores mark up merchandise to offset the losses and it'll cost your household roughly 400 dollars a year something added to emails a woman driving puppy around in that yellow beetle all right they're pulling in now they call her period we're blurring her face because she's actually a police informant here is told the cops that puffies mo is to enter the fitting room with two of everything and then once inside conceal one of each items under her street clothes [Music] peewee tells the cops that puffy then hands the items over to a network of men and women she pays to return the goods to the store we watched as Belle security monitored what they say was one of those illegal returns going down so she does return the stolen stuff police say suspected returners cash the stolen goods in four store credits in the form of gift cards they believe those gift cards will later turn up on popular online auction sites seems like the gift cards are pretty much money right yes after weeks of following pumping in and out of stores along a 90 mile stretch from Orlando all the way to Tampa Sarge and his team finally ready to arrest her investigators say if they can flip puffy they're betting they can round up the returner the fencers and bring down the whole booster ring Bell security team is in place both subjects have entered the store they're inside the store monitoring puffy and the police informant peewee on surveillance cameras and radioing their movements two officers outside waiting in the parking lot subjects are now exiting that store an unmarked police car is weighted with subjects have entered the vehicle vehicles moving as they exit the parking lot the police pull up right behind it peewee who's been wearing the wire for weeks now fakes being terrified [Music] this particular vales is right across the street from their own share of substation so they pull over puffy and peewee right into the station's parking lot puffy is escorted inside directly into an interrogation room they need to turn puffy because they believe as the head of the Ring she's the only one who can lead them to everyone involved I like it one day straight were you okay I understand if you're gonna cooperate with us you're gonna and we're gonna help you and you got a fully corrupt cooperate and if you don't want to do that you need to tell me now because I don't want to waste my time you know I'm saying police say the rest of the suspected accomplices like they don't even know who each other are I want a name of every person you can you can set up a deal and sell this stuff to today after a few hours confronting her police say puffy finally seems to crack these guys are basically flipped puffy and they've managed to get her to call everybody in her virtual rolodex and she's gonna go to them one by one talk to them try to sell him something and these guys are gonna bust all of them eventually over the next 24 hours puffy works and works well for the police he'll act the only person they don't have her phone methodically helping them set up and then round up for alleged accomplices and as she sets off to bust them she seems surprised than what she's been doing right it's considered a serious crime I never thought that what idea was this theories is their series it actually is the organized crime Buffy who will later receive a two-year prison term plus ten years of probation gets to work helping to round up a dozen suspected returners but they can't blind the other suspects right now she's got a black shirt on red pants these are the people puffy claims she paid to return her stolen merchandise police say they have evidence that 33 year-old Erica is also one of them and Pawar must be she would later plead guilty and was given 24 months of probation police say Erica only made about five or ten bucks for each return Plus do it next the suspected fencers they're the people who puffy tells us buy those gift cards from her for about 50 cents on the dollar he got a warrant for your arrest police say one of Puffy's fencers also sells her boosted merchandise at a neighborhood store so they send her in with dresses they secretly police have coached puppy to tell ray aka Bubba that the items are stolen states address stolen and all the head over for me the next day the police raid this store Polk County Sheriff a search warrant in find most of that merchandise up for sale I know it was stolen and that I want you to remember something okay that was to keep in mind that your store is video and audio recorded yeah once he told me so responsive he was later convicted of dealing in stolen property and sentenced to 36 months in prison any time did you have any idea at all that we were following you or anything like that in the three weeks we followed them the Polk County Sheriff's Office arrested puffy and 16 of her suspected associates and were able to stop what they say is one of the largest organized retail crime rings operating in Central Florida for Nightline I'm Matt Gutman in Lakeland Florida

Channel: ABC News

Views: 5,358,562

Keywords: florida, shoplifters, caught in the act, steal, shop, bust, theft, catch, investigation, abc, abcnews

Id: eslfjT8k-WQ

Length: 8min 2sec (482 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 26 2014