Pleasant Prairie police arrest 6 in 'grab-and-go' shoplifting

 

PLEASANT PRAIRIE, Wis. (CBS 58) -- The Pleasant Prairie Police Department arrested six people less than an hour after they stole more than $2,000 from a Nike store at the Pleasant Prairie Outlet Mall, right across the street from a hotel.

“We found one of the individuals inside the hotel with the keys to the car in them, or on him, and then the rest of the parties were actually in the car when it was stopped in the parking lot,” Chief Dave Smetana said.

On July 1, an even larger operation stole about $30,000 from a North Face store in the same mall.

Chief Dave Smetana says these crews are becoming increasingly sophisticated.

"Jackets that had laces on the inside that could hide merchandise....they had bags that could defeat the detection devices. They had tools to cut off some of the detection devices, the anti-shoplifting devices.”

Smetana says the outlet mall's proximity to the highway makes it a target, but it’s no outlier.

“This is happening across the country. This is nothing specific to Pleasant Prairie.”

He adds, if you see something as a shopper, say something, because shoplifting is not a victim-less crime.

"The cost of the shrinkage or the shoplifting is built into the cost of your item.”

Police did arrest all of the members of the July flash mob. They expect everyone arrested this time around to face felony retail theft charges.