Anti-theft tips from KCSO, Walker
Farragut and other shopkeepers in Turkey Creek got a heads up on what shoplifters are looking for when Knox County Sheriff’s Office met with business management representatives on safety and loss prevention in Turkey Creek’s Regal Cinemas Thursday, May 25.
“We put this [meeting] together because of the outcry from the public [on thefts],” Knox County Sheriff Jimmy “J.J.” Jones said. “[The thefts are] getting worse.”
“I know managers’ cars and what time of the day is the best to come,” said Brooke Walker, a former thief, at the meeting.
Walker’s last arrest was the first of March. She was released from jail three months ago.
Since then, she has reportedly turned over a new leaf and works with law enforcement to stop the thefts, said Capt. Robbie Lawson, who serves as liaison between KCSO and town of Farragut and on the organized retail crime unit.
Walker said she would pull into the parking lot of a store at 5 a.m. to see who comes in [to the parking lot]. She looked for high-ticket items.
“It’s got to be a lot of money to make money,” she said.
She also looked at when to target new stores. “We had 30 days until the first inventory,” she said. That theft may not be noticed until the inventory.
She shopped at times when the store was busiest. When the shop was not busy, she would watch to see whether or not clerks at the front counter were paying attention. Her goal was simple — get out of the door without being caught.
Lee Tramel, KCSO chief of operations, said the thefts are being drug-driven.
“I lost everything because of the drug use,” Walker said.
While some thieves will cash in their stolen merchandise on Craig’slist.org or e-Bay,com/, the thieves who steal for drugs won’t wait to get paid from those sources. Pawnshops and small mom-and-pop stores and convenience stores are quicker, Walker said.
So, Lawson said the sheriff’s office is going after the entities that are buying the stolen merchandise.
Local stings and busts on pawnshops have hurt the theft industry, Jones said.
While State of Tennessee legislators have passed a bill that increased the amount of stolen items for which a theft can be a felony — from $500 to $1,000 — law enforcement has found a way around it.
Lawson said if someone steals from a store and is caught, that is criminal trespass, a misdemeanor. Then, if a person is caught in that store a second time, he or she can be charged with a felony and it will not matter what the amount the person stole was.
