18 face felony charges for alleged shoplifting ring targeting big box stores on Long Island

Prosecutors on Long Island announced a crackdown on what they're calling serial shoplifting. 

Eighteen people face felony charges. Prosecutors allege they aren't desperate shoppers, but professional thieves who treat big box stores like personal warehouses. 

"It is organized"

The same alleged thieves came back day after day to a Suffolk County Home Depot, and other locations. In one incident, they allegedly made off with $18,000 in power tools. In another, some $8,000 in high ticket merchandise was casually wheeled out. 

Home Depot says organized retail theft takes place in its stores every five minutes. 

"They've got two of three spotters watching from the car. These places are run like small businesses. You go to their warehouses, and they're lined up like a Home Depot. So it is organized," Home Depot's Nick Guttman said. 

To battle the troubling trend, Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney created a partnership with 20 big-name box stores to crack down on the shoplifting ring. 

"We are not talking about individuals who commit a crime once or twice and realize they made a mistake. We're talking about professional thieves who use the laws to exploit the system, to commit crime after crime after crime to avoid repercussions," Tierney said. 

"They're making millions of dollars" 

Tierney said authorities are now able to charge serial shoplifters with felonies by adding together multiple thefts on the same dates and stores. Over the past six months, 18 people from across Long Island have been charged with 80 high priced thefts.

Tierney says the suspects are selling what they've stolen on Facebook Marketplace and other places "all over the internet." 

"And they're making millions of dollars," Tierney said. "It affects stores. It affects consumers. It affects communities." 

It costs everyone money and time, with items having to be locked up every day. 

"As consumers, we pay for the thefts of others in the form of higher prices, products being locked behind bars or glass, and with lost jobs when retailers move out of communities due to constant theft," Tierney said. 

Repeat offenders are having their right to reenter the stores revoked by being served with trespass notices. If they return, they can face additional felony charges. 

Officials said the thefts aren't a matter of need, but rather are organized greed which retailers can only combat collectively. They are inviting other Long Island retailers to join their Retail Protection Partnership by contacting the DA's office.