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Washington officials have arrested two people believed to be members of an organized theft group and seized thousands of dollars worth of stolen cosmetics. Lynnwood Police Department officers responded to calls of a theft in progress at a makeup store in Alderwood Mall Parkway on February 1.
On arrival, they were told by a ‘loss prevention employee’ that the two suspects were stealing makeup products. The employee was able to confirm that the suspects were the same people involved in another makeup theft on January 31. Officials were soon able to take the suspects and their vehicle into custody and discovered over $12,000 worth of stolen cosmetics.
Police have not released the names of the suspects. Pictures shared by the police on social media show a massive pile of products including eyeliners, mascaras, face powders and a Sol de Janeiro spray. The Department believes that the thieves are members of a Romanian organized traveling retail crime ring and the products are being shipped across state lines to be sold for pennies on the dollar.
One of the suspects was charged and jailed for organized retail theft in the first degree and the other thief, a juvenile, was released to their parents/guardians. According to local news, the accused were first raiding a Kohl’s in the Lynnwood City Center in January and then were arrested in February after stealing from a Sephora in Alderwood Mall.
According to the Washington Examiner, federal investigators have linked major retail theft incidents back to criminal organizations in Europe and South America. Michael J. Krol, a special agent in for Homeland Security Investigations said in a testimony that one such group is the Romanian organized theft group, or ROTG. The group is suspected of sending non-US citizens into the country with the sole objective of stealing.
‘A recent HSI investigation in Missouri revealed a ROTG, comprised of previously deported individuals, that wired illicit proceeds to Romania and other international destinations,’ the agent said. Lynnwood City is part of the Seattle Metropolitan Area and is located 16 miles north of Seattle. This comes a few months after a CVS pharmacy in Washington DC made news for replacing almost all its stock with photographs to combat rampant shoplifting.
In October 2023, framed images of items such as toilet paper and kitchen towels standing in place of the real products went viral on X. Customers were being asked to press a button to request staff to fetch the products from storage each time. At the time, conservative commentator Joey Mannarino, who shared the images wrote: ‘This is how we live in America now? This is the third world!’
The strategy had been fueled by the routine looting carried out at another Washington DC CVS. Shocking images had emerged of entire shelves cleared by gangs of children, who reportedly targeted the store every day, at the time. ‘When you walk into this CVS, you’d think the store is closing because there’s barely anything on the shelves,’ Fox 5 reporter Sierra Fox told viewers.
