Thread: Baby formula theft puzzles

Baby formula theft puzzles
By: Lisa Halverstadt
Issue date: 3/28/07
Media Credit: Jordan Flower


Stolen baby food: The empty shelf where a little more than $2,000 in baby formula was stolen from the local Wal-Mart. The event is a little more common than the public may think, with people pilfering the formula and then reselling it.


Bowling Green police and Wal-Mart officials were likely asking themselves the same question yesterday:

Why and how could someone take 200 cans of baby formula from the supercenter and go unnoticed?

A shelf full of 12.9-oz. cans of Similac baby formula, worth an estimated $2,600, was reported missing from the West Gypsy Lane Road store when an employee took inventory on Monday morning.

"I was just shocked," said Earl Moore, the store's co-manager. "It's one of the items that's [...] stolen quite a bit but never to that extent."

Lt. Tony Hetrick of the Bowling Green police said it appears all the formula was taken at once and that the thefts occurred between Saturday night and the time of their discovery early Monday.

Baby formula is often stolen because it is expensive and can be resold at a cheaper rate but the number of missing items has never been so significant before, he said.

But this sort of theft isn't just happening in Bowling Green.

In March 2005, Chris Swecker, assistant director of the FBI's criminal investigative division, told a House subcommittee that cans of baby formula like Similac are sometimes stolen, taken out of their original packages and placed in new ones before being resold to smaller stores or even government food programs across the country.

This practice can result in health problems for those who unknowingly buy the repackaged goods, he said.

Economic losses are also significant, Swecker told the Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security subcommittee.

The retail industry "loses between $15 to $30 billion annually to such theft," he told them.

Over-the-counter drugs, razor blades, DVDs and cigarettes are also frequent targets.

Last month, the FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin reported that these schemes often involve illegal immigrants suspected of passing the money made from the rings to terrorist groups.

"One of the largest rings [after Sept. 11, 2001] netted $44 million in 18 months," the report stated.

On March 1, Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann announced his office would be working with police departments and sheriff's offices across the state to more successfully prosecute organized theft rings in Ohio. Just two days later, 25 suspects in Mahoning, Summit, Stark and Cuyahoga counties were indicted.

According to Hetrick, some stores have responded by changing the way they sell baby formula.

"Some places don't even put it out on the shelves," Hetrick said.

At Wal-Mart, the $11.48 formula sits on a shelf near various other infant products. Meijer on East Wooster Street and Kroger on North Main Street both display their products in much the same way.

But Al Lawrence, store director at Meijer, said his store used to face more missing formula and lowered the number of thefts when they began stamping Similac cans with the Meijer brand name, making the product less attractive to potential resellers.

Moore said his store has never tried this tactic but workers will be encouraged to watch customers closely.

Lawrence said managers at Wal-Mart will probably adapt quickly to deal with the thefts.

"We've all learned the hard way," he said. "They will learn what to do to stop it."


http://media.www.bgnews.com/media/stora ... 8585.shtml

Breast feeding is free.

Dixie

West Gypsy Lane Road store

That should explain everything.....

Read somewhere here recently baby formula is used to cut cocaine.

Last month, the FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin reported that these schemes often involve illegal immigrants suspected of passing the money made from the rings to terrorist groups.

"One of the largest rings [after Sept. 11, 2001] netted $44 million in 18 months," the report stated.

no no no.. they are just here to work. Dang you FBI for connecting these dots. Dont you know we cant ask questions, deport them or ask that they speak our language.

how dare you make accusation. I am calling the ACLU