HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — New court records reveal how an organized retail theft ring operated in southwest Houston, costing grocery and retail stores tens of thousands of dollars.
So far, two people have been arrested and charged, with a third suspect still wanted.
According to investigators with the Department of Public Safety, the alleged ringleader is Maria del Carmen Gomez Lopez, a 50-year-old Honduran national who is now being held at the Harris County Jail on an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainer.
Court documents say Gomez Lopez ran the operation from a small apartment on Fondren Road. Investigators believe she placed orders for specific items like vitamins, cosmetics, and even trendy Stanley cups and then sent others out to steal them.
In a search warrant filed last week, Shaun Bonner and Brandon Shaw are listed as accomplices. Investigators said they would “steal to order at stores like Target, H-E-B, Randall’s, Kroger, and Academy.
In one case, investigators say the men walked out of a store with more than $2,000 worth of vitamins, bypassing the registers entirely.
A camera on a pole placed outside Gomez Lopez’s apartment reportedly captured the suspects repeatedly coming and going with stolen merchandise.
Investigators also say they found dozens of discarded anti-theft devices in the trash, evidence that was photographed and included in the search warrant.
Court records also show Shaw turned over text messages allegedly sent by Gomez Lopez, including one message, just days before his arrest, requesting stolen hair products and baby wipes.
Organized retail theft costs businesses and consumers billions of dollars every year, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Gomez Lopez and Shaw are now charged with engaging in organized criminal activity. Shaw is out of jail on bond. Bonner faces a separate theft charge and is still wanted.
Attorneys for both Gomez Lopez and Shaw declined to comment.
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