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Last updated on Thursday, September 25, 2014
(UNDATED) - Indiana retailers are asking for tougher laws against a new breed of shoplifter.
Indiana Retail Council president Grant Monahan says stores are losing 30-billion dollars a year to organized groups of thieves who work together to heist merchandise in bulk. He says the term "shoplifting" doesn't really apply -- he says while a typical shoplifter might steal an item for himself, organized theft rings are reselling items for profit, sometimes coming in with a shopping list.
Monahan wants legislators to create a new felony with tougher penalties, but Senate Criminal Law Chairman Mike Young (R-Indianapolis) says he doesn't want to clutter up state law with new crimes if it's not necessary. He says staffers will double-check the wording, but says shoplifting gangs should fall under the existing law against racketeering. That law is the state version of the federal RICO law, and targets any "criminal enterprise" which commits two or more organized acts of theft or more than 30 other crimes. A conviction carries up to six years in prison.
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