A Connecticut couple, Jadion Anthony Richards and Akwele Nickeisha Lawes-Richards, has been charged in Minnesota with organized retail theft in connection with the suspected theft of around $1 million in goods from the athletic wear retailer Lululemon.
The couple is accused of being part of a shoplifting ring responsible for hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses across the country.
The big picture: They allegedly stole items and made fraudulent returns, and were tracked by a Lululemon investigator even before being confronted at a store in suburban Roseville.
- When their hotel room in Bloomington was searched, police found suitcases containing more than $50,000 worth of Lululemon clothing.
Zoom out: The couple is suspected of thefts from Lululemon stores in Colorado, Utah, New York, and Connecticut, as well as within Minnesota, including stores in Minneapolis and the suburbs of Woodbury, Edina, and Minnetonka.
- They were part of a group that traveled to cities, hit Lululemon stores for two days, returned to the East Coast to exchange items without receipts, and then took back the new items with return receipts for credit card refunds before repeating the thefts in other cities.
