Indictments handed down in pharmacy theft scheme

MIAMI Seven men from Florida and North Carolina have been charged in a multimillion-dollar scheme to transport goods stolen from Walgreens, CVS, Target and others in North Carolina, Texas and Ohio to Florida, where it was then repackaged and resold, according to the Miami Herald.

A federal grand jury in Ford Lauderdale, Fla., gave the indictment, which the United States attorney’s office opened last week.

The FBI estimates that retailers lose $30 billion a year to organized retail crime, while a National Retail Federation survey showed that 85 percent of retailers reported being victims over the last year.

Organized retail crime involves stealing large quantities of goods, ranging from over-the-counter medications to DVDs, and then reselling them online or at flea markets. They can pose a risk to consumers because the thieves may mishandle them, alter expiration dates or store them in unsanitary conditions. According to the Coalition Against Organized Retail Crime, for example, authorities in Texas confiscated $1 million worth of stolen baby formula that was being stored in rodent-infested garages without temperature controls.