South Jersey’s Gloucester Premium Outlets and other nearby retail centers are attracting shoppers – and crooks.
So much so that police now have a retail theft detail assigned there full time.
The new position seems to have had an impact: Gloucester Township Police recently made arrests in three separate theft and credit card operations.
Overall, eight people were arrested and thousands of dollars of boosted merchandise has been recovered. A stolen weapon loaded with illegal hollow-point bullets also was confiscated in one instance, police said.
On April 26, a plainclothes officer saw four men attempting to use multiple credit and gift cards to purchase high-end merchandise.
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Several of the transactions were denied. Then the suspects provided alternative cards until one authorized payment.
One of the men tried to hide the credit and gift cards in the mulch landscaping when approached by police.
According to police, the four men possessed more than $6,000 worth of merchandise, allegedly purchased in several different stores with fraudulent credit and gift cards.
Detectives said they seized multiple fraudulent cards, a laptop and an encrypted USB drive, allegedly used to load stolen credit card account numbers onto the cards.
Arrested were Harold Luis Del Orbe, 28; Wadys Luis Del Orbe, 34; Socrates Ramirez, 32; and Aneruy Morena, 31, all of the Bronx, New York.
They were charged with various theft counts and were jailed after failing to post bail of $20,000.
On May 1, police responded to the Watch Station store at the outlets for a report of three women shoplifting.
Two were located outside the store, and police said they were found to have approximately $2,500 in outlet merchandise.
They also allegedly had shoplifting tools in their vehicle. They were arrested for shoplifting and released on a summons.
The third woman fled and is still being sought.
Arrested were Anniya Ross, 34, and Sabrina Dillard, 42, both of Philadelphia.
Later that same day, police officers noticed what they deemed to be a suspicious vehicle in the parking lot by the Texas Roadhouse restaurant near The Shoppes at Cross Keys.
Police allege two women were smoking marijuana and additional marijuana was discovered in their vehicle.
Police said they also discovered a handgun, stolen from North Carolina, that was loaded with illegal hollow-point bullets.
The Atlantic County women, Demaris Jones, 34, of Atlantic City, and Jamesha McCormick, 28, of Pleasantville, face weapons, drug and stolen property charges.