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Shoplifting ring may be tied to MS 13 gang

11:02 PM CST on Wednesday, November 30, 2005
By Vicente Arenas / 11 News

Shoplifting gangs are targeting stores all over Houston and they're believed to be part of an organized crime ring with possible links to terrorism.

Some of the suspects have been caught, but only on tape.

The shoplifters in the surveillance video will end up costing you money, taking stealing to a whole new level.

"Joe Sixpack shoplifter is going to hit a business for less than $100. When these folks go into a business, it's going to hurt them for thousands of dollars," said Johnnie Jeziersky, DPS.

The shoplifters stuff costly diabetic strips, Prilosec, Rogaine and other costly medications into a huge garbage bag.

"You take 'em around and they say 'We hit that Walgreen's. They say there's not a Walgreen's we haven't been in. There's not a CVS they haven't hit. They've hit everything," said Daniel Frazee with the Harris County Sheriff's Office.

Investigators say the ring, which has also been hitting stores around the country, sells the stolen goods on the black market.

Much of the money made, thousands of dollars a day we're told, goes to MS 13 gang members who profit from this normally low profile crime.

"The gang problem has become more organized. The thing is, it's like the mob, if you don't see it usually people are not going to talk about it," said a former Houston gang member.)

The man, who doesn't want to be identified, says organized crime is growing in Houston every day.

Community advocate Amanda Escobedo agrees. "It's not going to go away. It's going to get larger and when the city and the police department and the schools don't address it right away, that's why we are where we are now," she said.

Some of these shoplifters have been arrested but officers say there are as many as hundreds of others in Houston, still doing the same thing.

There have been 12 arrested so far.

Investigators said they have heard of a terroristic threat but have so far not found any evidence that such a threat exists. They said that one of their biggest challenges is that the justice system tends to go easy on shoplifters.