I pointed out recently that San Francisco police had arrested a group of teens for a string of thefts at various SF Walgreens stores. One of the shoplifters wasn’t even a teen, he was 12 but had apparently been involved in numerous thefts and at least one assault of a store employee.
Today the NY Times has a story that looks at another common type of shoplifter that has been making news for the past couple years. David Andino is a drug addict and for the past several years he has been stealing from retail stores in New York to feed his daily habit.
In the prime of his shoplifting, Andino was stealing every morning and many evenings. He had a regular buyer on West 116th Street, he said, who resold his stolen items to customers.
They loved the smell-goods, the cosmetics, the makeup. Clothes, detergents, Downy Unstopables. Fifty of those would bring him $15….
