A proposed Missouri law recently heard in the state senate suggests cracking down on organized retail theft from businesses, a growing concern in St. Joseph and nationwide.
HB 277, sponsored by Missouri House of Representatives Rep. Lane Roberts (R-Joplin) creates a new defense within state legislature to deter retail theft.
Language in the proposed legislation states if the amount stolen in 120 days is between $1,500 and $10,000, the crime becomes a class C felony and if the value is over $10,000, it becomes a class B felony.
“In this case, you have an agreement among several people to engage in this,” Roberts said. “The head of a group will send four or five different people to various locations to commit a theft, but this bill will make everyone a part of the agreement and everyone responsible for the conduct to be charged with the aggregated amount.”
Roberts added that organized crime is a growing issue statewide which is landing business owners in a tough financial situation.
“They’ll steal property then sell it online or will bring it back for an exchange for the money,” Roberts explained. “That’s the sort of conduct that ultimately costs the retailer, which drives and pushes the price up for the rest of us. This is an effort to try and better the livelihoods of everyone.”
The bill additionally applies to anyone who commits the offense of organized retail theft if they attempt to return the merchandise to the merchant for value or resells, trades, or if they barter the merchandise for value in any manner, including, but not limited to, through the use of an internet or network site.
For smaller law enforcement agencies such as the St. Joseph Police Department, prosecuting these cases can be complex and time-consuming. With a full plate of responsibilities, SJPD struggles to keep up with the increasing number of retail thefts.
“We do as much as we can to try and catch these incidents as they’re in progress,” said SJPD Sergeant Jeremy Peters. “So having this bill is a good thing. Any time we get a little bit more help on the law enforcement side, where we have some repeat offenders or people that are doing this on an organized level, that’s a step in the right direction. There needs to be tougher penalties for people that are victimizing others.”
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