TIGARD, Ore. — As large-scale thefts and "flash robberies" become more common, a special unit within the Tigard Police Department is focusing on organized retail thefts.
Since late November, Tigard PD's Commercial Crimes Unit has been busy. They have been investigating $10,000 worth of merchandise stolen from the Ulta near Washington Square, and $10,000 worth of handbags taken from the nearby Nordstrom. No arrests have been made in those cases.
"They went in and did not care. There were legit Nordstrom employees there saying, 'no, you can't do that,'" said detective TJ Hahn, a member of the Commercial Crimes Unit. "They don't care. You see the shelf going with them."
The Tigard Home Depot has also been targeted.
"They were doing a lot of ticket switching, item switching, and doing returns in the mix," said Detective Gabe Stone.
Stone, also part of the Commercial Crimes Unit, said one of Home Depot's loss prevention officers tipped off him and his team to last week's $40,000 heist. Stone was able to stop the suspects before they hit a Beaverton Home Depot.
"One man arrested in the parking lot was actually physically armed," Det. Stone said. "He had the gun on him. The other two had guns, just not on them."
It is an indication of just how dangerous organized retail theft can be.
This unit is the only team of its kind in Oregon, and one of only a few on the west coast. The team is completely funded by business license fees, and investigates thefts at both big retailers and small businesses.
"It's not just going in and getting handfuls of stuff," Det. Hahn said. "It's the variety of the counterfeit credit cards, counterfeit currency. They're switching, doing different things at the register to get the free items... They're manipulating people."
The suspects ripped of tens of thousands of dollars worth of merchandise from the Tigard Home Depot, and Tigard police officers believe the three people arrested might be behind even bigger thefts at Home Depot stores in Washington and California.
"Hopefully we'll be so proactive and show we'll go the distance with an arrest and indictment that people will avoid Washington County and Tigard when they want to come through and do their frauds," Stone said.