KENNEWICK, Wash. - Kennewick Police have arrested a man accused of stealing thousands of dollars' worth of merchandise from local businesses over the course of several crimes.Â
Police say 34-year-old Luiz Armando Anguiano already had a history of fraud when he and three other people allegedly walked into the Lowe's on North Colorado Street in January of 2023 and walked out with power tools worth more than $1,000.
"They were working in collusion with each other," says Kennewick Police Commander Aaron Clem. "Two of them left with items; the other two were stopped prior to leaving the store and those items were recovered."
Because this crime involved a group of people allegedly working together to steal merchandise from a business, Anguiano is now charged with 'Organized Retail Theft.' Cmdr. Clem says investigators have identified the other three suspects in this case, and police are working to get them into custody as well.
Organized Retail Theft is a type of crime that has become a growing concern across the nation.Â
Washington Retail Association's VP of Policy and Government Affairs says - you should not confuse it with simple shoplifting.
"Shoplifting is usually a crime of opportunity," Mark Johnson explains. "Nobody's looking; it wasn't premeditated; they weren't in there with the intent to steal off-hand. They looked around, nobody was looking, they toss something in their pocket.
"Or a crime of need. An individual is hungry; they're cold; they need a flashlight - they're housing-insecure and they can't see at night. Those are crimes of need.
"They're not lawful, any of those, but we're concerned about the premeditated intent to steal and re-sell."
Johnson explains that the intent to re-sell is a key factor in cases. He says stealing expensive merchandise from a store and then selling it at a tantalizing discount is much easier than robbing a bank, and has much lighter consequences for the criminals, who often belong to organizations using the money to fund other enterprises.
"They monetize the stolen product - billions of dollars of stolen product - to fund every other criminal activity out there," Johnson says. "You name it, they are funding it with retail theft."
It might seem on the surface like a victimless crime.
Often, nobody is physically injured in these cases.
But Johnson says retail theft does have wide-reaching impacts. Every time merchandise is stolen and re-sold illegally, local and state governments miss out on tax dollars. Johnson says that adds up to hundreds of millions of dollars lost in Washington alone.
Shoppers are left facing depleted store shelves and potentially higher prices, not to mention the frustration of dealing with locked cabinets protecting certain merchandise.
Johnson says while lawmakers are working on making it easier to prosecute criminals participating in organized theft rings, you can help by being cautious when you shop online.
"If it's still in the original box, if it still has the spider-wrapping theft-deterrent devices around it - and it's half the price that you would have paid at a brick and mortar store - it's stolen!" Johnson says. "If it's still in the original box - it is stolen, because they can simply return it and get full credit. And why didn't they do that? It's because it's stolen."
In the Kennewick case, Anguiano is also charged with theft, accused of stealing thousands of dollars' worth of jewelry on two separate occasions from two businesses within the Columbia Center Mall in May of 2023, and police say there may be more charges to come.
"My understanding is that we also have this gentleman identified in multiple other thefts across the region," Cmdr. Clem says. "My guess is that we'll be seeing additional charges related to him - and thefts from retail stores - coming shortly."
​COPYRIGHT 2023 BY APPLE VALLEY NEWS NOW. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.
