Owners and managers at several Pulaski County convenience stores are accused of recruiting shoplifters to bring them stolen items for them to resell. Grand jury indictments charge ten people with engaging in organized crime. Some of the defendants also are charged with food stamp fraud.
Police were alerted to the thefts by Gary Jones, a retired Somerset detective working as a loss-prevention officer at Kroger. He told police that several shoplifters he had detained said they were stealing to sell to local convenience stores.
According to an affidavit from Somerset police detectives, shoplifters said the stores paid them about half the face value of the items they stole, and then marked them up for resale.
According to court documents, at one convenience store, police found items with labels from Kroger, CVS, Dollar General and Kmart.
The investigation is continuing.
