FOX CROSSING, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Thousands of dollars’ worth of items stolen, then turned around and sold.
We’ve seen it in our area. Most recently, in Fox Crossing where diapers stolen from a charity.
Diapers, white strips, razors…products like these are stolen and resold on the black market.
Police tell FOX 11 News it’s a multi-billion dollar industry.
“High-value, small items that are easy to grab and go,” described Aaron Zemlock, a criminal justice instructor with Fox Valley Technical College.The items are ones that some struggle to afford.
For example, the stolen diapers in Fox Crossing cost about 30 dollars a pack, they would have sold for ten. We’re told thieves generally make 25 cents on the dollar.
“It might be something that’s newer to people in this area. It’s quite common, especially in larger cities,” Zemlock told us.
Larger cities like Chicago. That’s where police say the items Lovea Moore was allegedly stealing, would have ended up. She is charged with stealing white strips and razors from area stores.
But officers told FOX 11 the goods aren’t always taken from stores.
“From a warehouse like our location, or they’ll hit trucks, you know, any type of cargo theft, or trains,” explained Fox Crossing Police Officer Jason Weber.
Officers told us once stolen, the stolen goods can end up in many different places.
“Flea markets or any other type of discount stores, liquidating stores,” said Weber.
“Sometimes it’s actually taken back to warehouses and it’s repackaged and even re-sold back to the retailer it’s stolen from in the first place,” added Zemlock.
And then there are online marketplaces like Craigslist.
“A lot of it is through the internet,” said Zemlock.
Officers explained if you’re searching on a site like Craigslist and you find some of these products for sale for a price that seems too good to be true, they’re probably stolen.
“It probably wouldn’t be a bad idea to try and notify your local PD about,” Zemlock advised.
But officers did tell us once the items go on sale, it’s hard to trace the theft back to the thief.
“Because once they get it they move it fast,” Weber explained.
So law enforcement advises reporting the crime as soon as it happens.
“It ends up back on the consumer to end up paying the prices,” said Zemlock.
Making already pricey products even more so.
The police officers say they work with retailers directly to try to prevent these crimes and if they can’t prevent them, at least solve them.
