HOUSTON – While many people are working on holiday shopping, groups of criminals are targeting certain stores for specific items that can be resold online as part of organized retail crime that’s “increasing in intensity” in Texas.
Five people have been charged in Harris County connected to a monthslong crime spree targeting three-wick candles and other fragrant-forward products from Bath & Body Works.
“Candles, body sprays, lotions, air fresheners,” Houston Police Det. James Kneipp said. “They’re very expensive and they sell them on the streets for a low dollar. So everything’s just a profit for them.”
Det. Kneipp is assigned to the department’s organized crime squad, and since last August, he’s been tracking the thieves with specific taste.
“They were walking into the stores, usually taking the ... store totes, filling them up with product and walking right out the door with them passing all points of sales,” Det. Kneipp said.
Investigators identified 27-year-old Valisa Allen as the ringleader, along with her boyfriend, 25-year-old Sterling Hester.
During one month earlier this year, charging documents show the couple stole 352 three-wick candles, which usually sell for around $30, and other merchandise totaling nearly $10,000.
In November, three more suspects connected to Allen and Hester were arrested and charged: 21-year-old Laniya Gatson, 27-year-old Monique Hudson, and 24-year-old Raevanna Williams.
Surveillance images shared with KPRC 2 by the Tomball Police Department from inside a Tomball Bath & Body Works appear to show Gatson and Hudson stealing items as recently as Nov. 1.
Since June, Houston Police data shared with KPRC 2 indicates the ring of suspects has struck 31 times, sometimes in the same day, other times returning to the same Bath & Body Works store, in Houston and surrounding cities like Texas City, Conroe, and Pearland.
“There has been multiple occasions where they were arrested, let out on bond, and they continued to do the same thing up until the day we put them in jail,” Det. Kneipp said.
A National Retail Federation survey found Houston is among the top five cities affected by organized retail crime, a problem that the Texas Comptroller’s Office says is “increasing in intensity.”
“If this happens more and more, maybe the merchants would close the store and you have nowhere to shop,” said Joyce Beebe, a fellow at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.
Beebe is on a statewide task force, formed after state lawmakers passed a bill earlier this year. She said the pandemic made people more comfortable shopping online.
“Criminals also capture this element, and they realize, well, if I remain anonymous online, maybe people will not ask me for my identity and ... they don’t ask where my merchandise is coming from,” she said.
The task force is looking into the impacts of organized retail crime in the state and coming up with solutions to tackle it.
The task force also includes Montgomery County prosecutor Tiana Sanford and other executives, from stores like H-E-B, Target, and 7-Eleven.
Det. Kneipp said many of the stolen scents end up on Facebook Marketplace unless police catch the criminals in the act.
In May, the Montgomery County Precinct 4 Constable’s Office posted on Facebook after a police chase involving Bath & Body Works theft suspects ended in a crash and both suspects in custody.
“It’s a real bad issue,” Det. Kneipp said.
Bath & Body Works did not respond to questions from KPRC 2.
Three of the suspects in the alleged theft ring, Allen, Sterling, and Williams are being held without bond. The other two suspects, Gatson and Hudson, were released on bond and are now wanted again, according to the Harris County District Attorney’s Office.
Anyone with information on their whereabouts should contact Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.
Watch KPRC 2′s Bryce Newberry’s full report on KPRC 2 News at 10.