GASTONIA, N.C. — A crackdown on organized retail crime is underway in Gaston County. Federal, North Carolina, and local officials announced their plan to seek solutions to rising retail thefts.
On Thursday, Homeland Security, the Gastonia Police Department, the Gaston County Police Department, the Kings Mountain Police Department, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, and the Gaston County District Attorney’s Office publicly announced the joint task force called "Operation Fed Up."
Gastonia Police Chief Trent Conard said theft rings are a growing problem in the county and nationwide. He added that the shoplifters impact all shoppers by driving up prices and forcing retailers to lock away certain products.
"Over the past few years, we've seen a sharp rise in coordinated criminal activities targeting retail stores across Gaston County," Conard said.
Conard said retail crime rings are ransacking big retailers and flipping stolen goods for cash. Last year, there were 941 cases of larceny in Gastonia, which robbed businesses out of $400,000.
"These crimes are not isolated incidents but rather a highly organized and systematic operation to cause significant financial loss to businesses and increased prices for all of us," Conard added.
The Gastonia Police Department pointed to the Jeremy Shane Huffman case in Kings Mountain as a prime example of organized retail crime. Huffman was arrested in 2022 and convicted of organized retail theft in 2023. Investigators said they recovered about $170,000 worth of stolen products from his home. They accused him of planning to resell. The items ranged from over-the-counter drugs, toilet paper and groceries from stores like Walmart, Walgreens, and CVS.
Gaston County District Attorney Travis Page said these organized crime cases can be harder to prosecute.
"In addition to just proving a simple larceny or a felony larceny, the value of what's taken, we're now looking to prove that they’ve worked in some form of conspiracy with other folks," Page explained.
However, the task force allows agencies to join forces and bust these rings together.
"We are going to build cases across multiple counties, compound the values of those items stolen, and we will accordingly seek longer prison terms," Page added.
The Gastonia Police Department said the operation is recovering hundreds of thousands of dollars of stolen goods from criminals in Gaston County. Page said thieves found guilty of organized retail crime will have assets seized and could spend years in jail.
Contact Julia Kauffman at jkauffman@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.