SCHUMER: SPIKE IN ORGANIZED RETAIL THEFT IS HITTING ROCHESTER AND NYS HARD, HURTING LOCAL BUSINESSES AND DRIVING UP CONSUMER COSTS; SCHUMER LAUNCHES PUSH FOR FEDS TO INCREASE ENFORCEMENT AGAINST CRIME RINGS DRIVING LARGE-SCALE RETAIL THEFT BY USING RICO ACT TO BUST ORGANIZED RETAIL CRIME RINGS AT THE TOP AND KEEP COMMUNITIES SAFE
Communities Across New York – Including Rochester & Ontario County, Have Seen Millions In Merchandise Stolen From Stores Amid Spike In Organized Retail Thefts – Hurting Local Businesses And Shoppers Via Higher Prices And Harder to Access Goods
Schumer Says Feds Must Increase Enforcement Against These Crime Rings & Black-Market Dealers At The Top To Stanch This Problem At Its Source; Senator Pushes Feds To Use Authority Under Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act – Which Helped Curtail The Mafia – And Increase Prosecution Of These Crime Rings To Keep Stores And Communities Safe
Schumer: Major Retail Theft Rings Go Way Beyond Shoplifting; It’s Organized Crime—That The Feds Can Bust And Cut This Problem Off At The Source
Standing in front of Victor Crossing Shopping Plaza, amid a spike in large-scale organized retail thefts, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer today called on the Department of Justice (DOJ) to increase enforcement, and use all available measures including the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, which helped curtail the mafia’s organized crime spree, to investigate and prosecute organized retail theft rings in New York.
The senator explained the RICO Act is a strong federal tool for the DOJ to bust criminal, retail theft organizations – which go far beyond run-of-the-mill shoplifters – in Rochester, Ontario County, and across the state to stop large-scale criminal operations who are hurting local businesses, driving up prices, inconveniencing consumers, and risking community safety.
“Organized retail crime rings are spiking in New York and other communities across the country. It goes way beyond shoplifting – these are large-scale, organized theft operations stealing tens of thousands from local businesses here in Rochester, Ontario County and across the state and it has to stop. That’s why I’m launching my push to get the DOJ to step up their efforts against these crimes, and use the RICO Act, which helped curtail the mafia, to stop these organizations in their tracks,” said Senator Schumer. “We need all hands on deck to cut the problem off at the source and hold the people at the top of these criminal operations accountable. The feds have the power to bust these organizations and I am committed to fighting at the federal level to ensure our local police have the support they need to continue their work and keep our communities safe.”
Ontario County Sheriff David Cirencione said, “Combatting the rise of organized retail theft throughout our region has become a full-time job for some of our investigators. The Ontario County Sheriff’s Office responded to 30 calls and made 11 felony arrests stemming from repeated thefts of the Victor, NY Ulta store alone where a number of individuals worked in concert over several months to steal over $100,000 in merchandise. This is a national problem with theft rings active across jurisdictional lines, so we appreciate Senator Schumer’s support for greater federal law enforcement and resources to help local law enforcement and to combat these organized rings at their source.”
“Monroe County is not immune to the prolific rise in organized retail theft occurring across the nation,” said Monroe County Sheriff Todd K. Baxter. “Combatting it requires an all-hands-on-deck approach. We appreciate the Senator’s support and all tools to aid efforts to target and stop these organized rings at their source. Retail theft affects all our citizens, most profoundly, our poor.”
Schumer explained Congress passed the RICO Act in 1970 to help federal agents take on major organized crime rings – which harm communities, businesses, and consumers – by providing the feds with new tools to investigate and prosecute these crime rings and their more sophisticated, diversified interstate networks, rather than focus on individual crimes. Schumer explained using RICO to prosecute New York’s coordinated retail theft efforts would enable federal agents and New York prosecutors to partner to dismantle these repeated thefts – which are driven by profit not by necessity – and take down their entire organizational structure to stop these crime rings from adversely affecting the livelihoods of businesses and workers, and the pocketbooks of consumers.
Schumer said Upstate New York has been particularly impacted by these rings, with Ontario, Monroe, and other New York counties having seen rises in thefts and assaults on retail workers in recent years. In Monroe County alone, where reports revealed four large retailers alone had $7 million in products stolen in 2023, many stores have been targets of repeated shoplifting incidents, leading the Monroe County Sheriff to start a dedicated Retail Theft Detail in light of the rise of thefts at retail stores in the region. In September 2023, the Monroe County Sheriff Office (MCSO) arrested several individuals in connection with nearly 60 larcenies across New York State. The MCSO apprehended the offenders in their stolen vehicle in Gates, NY. In Ontario County, large and small retailers have been the victims of shoplifting incidents. For example, in Victor NY, the Ulta store which has been a national target of organized theft rings was hit particularly hard repeatedly over several months. Schumer said over $100,000 of products was stolen from the store between 2023 and February 2024. This same Ulta Store was hit in July 2023 when $8,000 of merchandise was stolen. Several other individuals from Rochester were arrested in 2023 for stealing $170,000 of goods from Ulta stores in Erie County and Batavia, NY. Similarly, thousands of dollars of merchandise were stolen over several instances from a sporting goods retailer’s stores at the Eastview Mall in Victor, NY and the Greece, NY mall.
Schumer also announced he secured nearly $1 million in funding for the Monroe County Sheriff Offices work to combat and prevent emerging crime trends, including organized retail theft. Specifically, with Senator Gillibrand and Rep. Joseph Morelle, Schumer secured $940,000 in the federal Fiscal Year 2024 appropriations bill that was signed into law on March 23, 2024 to fund the Monroe County Sheriff Office’s Regional Investigative Operations Center (RIOC). The RIOC, which is modeled after real time crime centers now in use in other municipalities across the country, brings technology, information, and operational control together in one location to boost public safety efforts to secure critical infrastructure, address emerging crime patterns to include organized retail theft, manage large-scale investigations involving multiple jurisdictions, locate missing or abducted persons, and respond to terrorist threats. The RIOC is a tool that brings together the technology available to law enforcement, merged with the intelligence analysis of the Monroe Crime Analysis Center (MCAC), tips from the public, and the work of the investigators and patrol deputies to mitigate identified crime and threats. The RIOC will also enhance ROCTAC, a first of its kind targeted threat management team in New York State.
Schumer has also been pushing to increase support for local law enforcement at the national level. Last month, he secured $256 million for Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) grants for hiring and rehiring additional local and state law enforcement officers and $214.5 million for COPS grants for state and local law enforcement related to community policing efforts in the federal Fiscal Year 2024 appropriations. Schumer said he will be continuing to push to deliver resources to get all-hands-on-deck to increase enforcement efforts and bring further support to local law enforcement.
A copy of Schumer’s letter to the Department of Justice appears below:
Dear Attorney General Garland:
I am writing to urge the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate organized retail theft rings that continue to harm businesses and communities across New York. While theft has decreased as a whole nationwide, New York City has seen a 64 percent increase in thefts since 2019, and Syracuse has seen a 55 percent spike since 2021. Monroe, Orange, and other New York counties have also seen rises in thefts and assaults on retail workers in recent years. Many of these thefts are not driven by necessity but by organized crime rings looking to make a profit.
Everyday New Yorkers are being harmed by these crime rings. Large chain stores and small businesses alike are being forced to close due to thefts. Target announced last year the closure of their store in East Harlem, citing concerns over worker safety and theft as their reason for closing. Other large retailers and small businesses have followed suit, as the cost of securing merchandise—whether by locking certain items in cases, investing in hired security and security cameras, or securing doors and windows with expensive security gates—has harmed their ability to operate.
Organized crime rings are also incentivizing thieves to use more brazen and confrontational techniques against retail workers who try to intervene to stop them, putting retail workers in danger. Almost half of small businesses owners surveyed by the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce say they felt more unsafe in 2023 than during the year before. Retail workers should not be put at risk so that others can make a profit off stolen goods.
These effects also trickle down to consumers, who are, in many cases, forced to pay higher prices and face fewer choices as their local communities cope with or succumb to retail theft. Small businesses are feeling the effects of retail theft at a greater level than large retailers—many small businesses surveyed this past year were forced to raise their prices solely due to shoplifting.7 Organized retail crime is a problem that will only continue to harm New York businesses and consumers unless the government protects consumers.
Congress has provided DOJ with powerful tools to tackle this problem. One option is the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), which could help federal agents take on major organized crime rings harm our communities. Rather than focus on individual crimes, RICO enables DOJ to investigate and prosecute these crime rings and their sophisticated, diversified interstate networks. Using RICO to combat organized retail theft rings would allow federal agents to work with local New York prosecutors, and it is critical to use all available tools to dismantle these rings and take down their entire organizational structure. I urge DOJ to take all appropriate actions to stop these criminal enterprises and to provide justice to affected businesses, workers, and consumers.
Sincerely,
###
