32 Arrested As Alleged Massive Retail Theft, Resale Ring Busted

A large-scale ring that involved pawn shops and “professional retail thieves” was broken up, the Pennsylvania attorney general announced during a press conference in Falls Township Thursday morning.

Operation Booster Club, according to law enforcement and a grand jury presentment released Thursday morning, involved a ring of alleged crooks who generated hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue through the purchase and resale of merchandise stolen from chain stores between January 2014 and October 2017.

The investigation uncovered that the owners and employees from Levittown Quick Cash Trading Post in the 4000 block of New Falls Road in Bristol Township and Morrisville Loan and Pawn on West Trenton Avenue in Falls Township were purchasing stolen goods from the thieves – known as “boosters” – and would pay them about 30 percent to 40 percent of the stolen item’s retail value. The pawn shop owner and employees would then take the stolen goods to a warehouse before selling them on eBay, according to authorities.

Attorney General Josh Shaprio said the items that would be resold fetched retail value or slightly below that amount, making a healthy profit for the pawn shops.

Before District Judge Vislosky, shop owner Michael Stein, 35, of Middletown, and shop employees Lyle Boden, 29, of Philadelphia; Joshua Fedalen, 26, of Sharon Hill, Delaware County; Brian Jancia, 29, of Holmes, Delaware County; and Victor Kline, Jr., 46, of Philadelphia. were arraigned Thursday morning on various charges relating to the case.

Shapiro said many – if not all – of the alleged 27 boosters arrested this week were drug users.

Loss prevention employees at CVS, Giant Food, Home Depot, Target, and Walmart stores began noticing a spike in the number of retail thefts in their stores around the Philadelphia region in 2015. Some of the stolen items were tracked by the employees to various pawn shops, including Levittown Quick Cash Trading Post and Morrisville Loan and Pawn, authorities said.

In April 2015, Falls Township police initiated an investigation and began using an informant. Shortly after, the Bucks County Detectives and Bristol Township police began assisting.

Falls Sgt. Chris Clark testified before a statewide grand jury recently that the employees at the pawn shops operated on a “don’t ask, don’t tell” basis. The boosters who stole the items did not announce where the goods came from and the employees would purchase the merchandise with no questions asked.

The store employees allegedly turned a blind eye to the fact many of the items brought in for resale were new-in-box and boosters had previously admitted to retail thefts.

Store employees would frequently suggest boosters pickup gift cards because the businesses could pay an average of 50 percent of face value to the retail thieves, Clark told the grand jury.

In Falls and Bristol townships, pawn shops track all purchases through a program called LeadsOnline. The information tracks who sold the items and what the pawn shop paid.

Investigators in the case realized the crime ring extended to at least four other businesses in Delaware County, Montgomery County and Philadelphia.

As the investigation grew, the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office was brought in to coordinate the expanding probe.

Over the past year, investigators were able to identify 27 boosters who “systematically stole hundreds of thousands of dollars of new merchandise.” Some of the suspects operated as a crew that was headed by one person or acted individually.

Among the items taken by the boosters were beauty projects, blenders, kitchen faucets, computer hard drives and vacuums, Shapiro said. He added that another tactic was for boosters to return stolen goods in exchange for a gift card from the store.

Investigators used physical surveillance, video from retailers, court-approved intercepted communications, search warrants at numerous locations, and interviews to put their case together. Sources told LevittownNow.com that search warrants were executed at the Levittown Quick Cash Trading Post and Morrisville Loan and Pawn over the past two years.

Between January 2014 and October 2017, pawn shop owner Stein and his employees purchased nearly $700,000 worth of stolen goods from boosters, authorities said.

“It is clear to this Grand Jury that all five individuals had to blatantly ignore the reality that no patron of their stores could continue to purchase new-in-box merchandise at full value and then sell that merchandise for 30 percent of its value,” the paperwork filed Thursday read.

Attorney General’s Office Special Agent Joseph Daniels viewed items for sale from accounts tied to the pawn shops as late of August 2017. The items were listed as being “new.”

The resale of the stolen items allegedly “generated a significant profit in the hundreds of thousands of dollars and resulted in a significant loss to the retail industry,” the grand jury wrote. Shapiro said the total of loss to retailers was approximately $700,000.

“These pawn shop workers and their owner knew they were buying stolen merchandise at 30 cents on the dollar, but they were blinded by their own greed,” Shapiro told reporters. “They profited on the addictions of the booster thieves and their desperation for money to feed their addictions.  Today we’re holding the pawn shop owner and workers accountable, and we’ve shut this scheme down.”  

The investigation into the scheme and similar ones will continue, the state’s top law enforcement official said. However, Shaprio declined to tell reporters if more arrests were imminent.

Shapiro’s office said they would take steps to make sure the 27 retail theft defendants with drug problems would have treatment made available. The attorney general also said that drug addiction is not an excuse for committing crimes.

The scheme alleged Thursday is part of a nationwide problem that takes advantage of those who are addicted to opioids and harms retailers and consumers.

Stein, Boden, Fedalen, Jancia and Kline were transported to court in handcuffs. 

Stein was arraigned on charges of corrupt organizations, dealing in the proceeds of unlawful activities, receiving stolen property, and criminal conspiracy. He was released after his attorney posted his $5,000 bail.

Boden, Fedalen, Jancia and Kline were all arraigned on charges of corrupt organizations, receiving stolen property, and criminal conspiracy. They were released on their own recognizance.

The district judge ordered all the men to “be wise” and not have contact with other co-defendants. She also took the men’s passports and advised them to contact Falls police if they were traveling outside of Pennsylvania.

Ryan Becker, the attorney representing Stein, said his client did not direct anyone to break the law and he plans to make his case in court.

Editor’s Note: All individuals arrested or charged with a crime are presumed innocent until proven guilty. The story was compiled using information from police and public court documents.

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