A mother-son team of thieves have been charged with over a dozen counts of grand theft and petit theft, limited to the Florida area alone and starting in June, though investigators state that their scheme encompassed a far greater area and ran for 10 years, as reported by the Sun Sentinel.
The Broward Sheriff's Organized Retail Crimes Unit arrested I.M.P., 46 and M.P., 70, on August 9. In all the two are thought to have stolen toys from all over the world, totaling in the millions, over a ten-year long crime spree.
Sheriff's Sgt. Rich Rossman said, "He made it a goal of his to steal from all 50 states within one year, which he was very proud of and he did accomplish."
Investigators said that the pair's method, involving one other man, was to enter a store, select a large toy box, and remove the toy from the box and replace it with several much more expensive items. They then hid the original toy in the store, sealed the box back up and just go through the checkout – where just the one outer box would be scanned.
Rossman called it "Box Stuffing."
One such crime, occurring in a Toys R Us in Naples on July 12, I.M.P. selected a box that held a Mega Block Play 'n Go Table. The cost of the table is estimated at $45 to $50. Later that day the store's inventory was down two Mindstorm Lego sets – the cost of the sets are $330 each.
The following day the Mindstorm sets were lists on I.M.P.'s eBay account. A Toys R Us investigator, Patrick Fairley, purchased one of the sets and had I.M.P. ship it to him in Houston.
Once Fairley collected the toy he sent it to Florida to be placed into evidence. Fairley purchased one other item from I.M.P.'s eBay account, a Mickey Mouse computer game, and also had it sent over to Florida.
The second item had I.M.P.'s address listed on the return label.
From I.M.P.'s different eBay and Paypal records, investigators learned that he had received over $900,000 between two online business accounts that he had created.
Rossman added, "He considered it an art, the art of stealing. (One) particular trip he was on lasted three weeks. He drove 7,900 miles from Tamarac all the way to North Dakota and back, impacting retailers throughout the country."
I.M.P., while being questioned by police, said that he "wanted to personally thank CVS for paying for his vacation to Hawaii in February."
Over the years I.M.P. had tried his hand at international shoplifting, but, as Rossman put it, "…that somewhat scared him, because international law isn't exactly like America. If you steal there you could lose your hand, and he didn't think that was the wisest decision."
I.M.P. is being held in the Broward County jail on a $300,000 bond and his mother's bond is $29,100.
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