MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota: A Connecticut couple has been charged in Minnesota with being part of a shoplifting ring that stole approximately $1 million in merchandise from Lululemon stores across the U.S.
Jadion Anthony Richards, 44, and Akwele Nickeisha Lawes-Richards, 45, of Danbury, Connecticut, were charged with one felony count of organized retail theft earlier this month. They were released after posting bail bonds of $100,000 and $30,000, respectively, and are scheduled to appear in Ramsey County District Court in St. Paul on December 16.
According to criminal complaints, a Lululemon investigator had been monitoring the couple before police first confronted them at a Roseville store on November 14. The complaints allege the pair were responsible for hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses at Lululemon stores nationwide, using tactics such as stealing items and conducting fraudulent returns.
When police searched the couple's Bloomington hotel room, they found suitcases containing over $50,000 worth of Lululemon clothing. The couple is also suspected of thefts at stores in Colorado, Utah, New York, Connecticut, and several locations in Minnesota, including Minneapolis and the suburbs of Woodbury, Edina, and Minnetonka.
The criminal complaints detail how the pair would target stores in one city for two days, return to the East Coast to exchange the stolen items for new ones without receipts, use the return receipts to obtain credit card refunds, and then head back out to commit more thefts.
In some cases, Richards would buy a cheap item, then swap its security sensor with one from a higher-value product before leaving the store with Lawes-Richards and another woman.
"This outcome continues to underscore our ongoing collaboration with law enforcement and our investments in advanced technology, team training, and investigative capabilities to combat retail crime," said Tristen Shields, Lululemon's vice president of asset protection.
The couple is being prosecuted under Minnesota's organized retail theft law, enacted last year to combat large-scale theft operations. "This type of theft harms retailers in myriad ways, including lost economic activity and threats to worker safety," said Sen. Ron Latz, who co-authored the law.