SHOPLIFTERS AHOY!

Shameless shoplifters brazenly stroll out of Lowe’s store with packed carts 

 

By Joshua Rhett Miller  

New York Post

September 7, 2021

Two shoplifters nonchalantly rob merchandise from a Lowe’s in Keizer, Oregon

Sullivan’s 90-second clip showed the men taking the carts to a car parked outside where they met a third man while unloading the stolen spools of wire before riding off.

“Report it, man,” one of the thieves appeared to tell Sullivan.

Keizer police Lt. Andrew Copeland told the Keizer Times that Lowe’s didn’t report the theft until the following day. An investigation is ongoing, but Copeland noted that many jails in Oregon aren’t taking suspects charged with certain crime, including theft.

 

The shoplifters packed away their stolen goods with ease outside a Lowe’s in Keizer, Oregon

 

“Once you’ve stolen from Lowe’s once and know they can’t stop you, there’s no real consequence,” Copeland said. “Second thing is, these people know they can’t go to jail.”

Most suspects accused of theft are fined, cited and released in an effort to cut jail populations during the COVID-19 pandemic, Copeland said.

“In order for us to arrest someone, we have to have a victim,” Copeland said, adding that larger corporations like Lowe’s typically have policies barring them from physically stopping shoplifters. “If Lowe’s chooses not to report it, we can’t do anything.”

Keizer police Lt. Trevor Wenning told The Post Tuesday that the suspects on the clip had yet to be identified in the ongoing investigation. One of the men had a distinctive Air Jordan tattoo on his left calf, the footage shows.

Reps for Lowe’s did not immediately respond to an inquiry Tuesday on the incident and its policies about stopping suspected shoplifters.