A Connecticut couple has been arrested for allegedly stealing $1 million in Lululemon products in a three-month span.
Jadion Richards, 44, and Akwele Lawes-Richards, 45, were arrested earlier this month in Woodbury, Minnesota and each charged with one felony count of organized retail theft, court documents show.
The alarm sounded at Lululemon in Roseville, Minnesota on November 14 when the couple left the store, prompting employees to call police about the couple “potentially shoplifting,” a probable cause statement says.
The couple denied the shoplifting claims, Richards said he was “being racially profiled” and accused employees of setting the alarm off on purpose. The alarm didn’t go off when they exited the store for the second time, and they drove off in a rented Hyundai Tucson.
At some point, the responding officer realized that the day prior, he had received a text from a Lululemon employee that a large theft had occurred involving three people — he later learned that theft involved Richards, Lawes-Richards and an unidentified man, the statement says.
An organized retail crime investigator for Lululemon said the trio are accused of stealing 45 items worth nearly $5,000 on November 13. The couple is responsible for “hundreds of thousands of dollars in loss” to the athleisure-wear store across the country by fraudulently returning stolen items to different Lululemon locations, the investigator said.
When arrested the next day at a Woodbury Lululemon, officers recovered a wallet with different credit and debit cards that “Richards had concealed in his buttocks,” the filing says. He also had a key card for a room at JW Marriott in Bloomington.
Hotel staff checked three of 12 suitcases in his room to see who they belonged to, finding each contained Lululemon clothing with their tags still attached, the document states.
After obtaining a search warrant, investigators recovered the suitcases, estimating that they held Lululemon clothes worth more than $50,000.
From September through November, the couple is accused of committing thefts in Minnesota, Colorado, New York, Connecticut and Utah; they are accused of stealing more than $30,000 from Lululemon stores in Minnesota and at least $32,000 in Colorado.
“The group worked together using specific organized retail crime tactics such as blocking and distraction of associates to commit large thefts,” the filing says.
For example, in Colorado, the duo held up coats and jackets as if they were eying them, but were in reality blocking the view of staff and other customers while they concealed the items and removed their security sensors, according to the court document.
Typically Richards would walk into the store first, purchase a few cheap items with his credit card, and go back out to the sales floor where he and Lawes-Richards would remove a security tag from another item and instead place it onto a recently purchased item.
Lawes-Richards and an unidentified woman then concealed the items in their jackets or under their shirts, the filing says.
The women then led the group out of the store. When the security tags set off the alarms, Richards, in the back, would stop and show Lululemon the bag with his purchased items as the women left the store unscathed.
The total loss to Lululemon from Richards, Lawes-Richards and their group is close to $1 million, the investigator said, according to the filing.
They were being held at Ramsey County Jail until they were released after Richards posted $100,000 bail on November 21 and Lawes-Richards posted $30,000 bail on November 19, court documents show.
They are next due to appear in court on December 16.
Lululemon’s vice president of asset protection, Tristen Shields, told NBC News in a statement that the company is committed to “creating a safe and secure environment.”
“This outcome continues to underscore our ongoing collaboration with law enforcement and our investments in advanced technology, team training and investigative capabilities to combat retail crime and hold offenders accountable,” Shields continued. “We remain dedicated to continuing these efforts to address and prevent this industry-wide issue.”
