Shoplifting

Stung by a new breed of sophisticated thieves, the nation's major retailers are fighting back. These well-organized crime rings have added tough new challenges for merchants who have long contended with petty shoplifters and their own light-fingered employees. Although those concerns remain, retail chains today are plagued by gangs of highly specialized thieves who steal thousands of dollars of merchandise at a time and sell the goods for profit. There are groups of thieves who make fake price tags, put them on merchandise and purchase the items at a fraction of the actual price.

Lindsay Lohan will not be appearing in court anymore if she continues to obey the law, a Los Angeles judge told her Thursday after ending the actress' supervised probation on shoplifting and drunk-driving convictions. The hearing put an end to Lohan's five years of criminal court appearances that saw the actress bounce in and out of rehab and jail for violating her probation. L.A. County Superior Court Judge Stephanie Sautner declared "she did it," in announcing Lohan had completed 480 hours of community service at the county morgue and undergone dozens of therapy sessions.

Some people call them teacher of the year, family doctor, engineer or Girl Scout leader. Nancy Clark calls them clients. For 15 years, Clark has run a shoplifting addiction treatment program in Newport Beach. Many clients attend in lieu of possible jail or prison sentences. Despite stereotypes about petty thieves snatching items out of financial desperation, many of the people in the program are well-to-do. They see shoplifting as an addiction that gives an endorphin rush on a par with drugs.

Reporting from Sacramento -- A California legislator pleaded no contest Friday to charges that she tried to shoplift $2,500 in clothes from Neiman Marcus in San Francisco. As part of a plea deal, a San Francisco County Superior Court judge reduced the charges against Assemblywoman Mary Hayashi (D-Hayward) from felony grand theft to a misdemeanor. Hayashi was sentenced to three years' probation and $180 in fines and required to stay at least 50 feet from the store on Union Square.

State Agriculture Secretary Penrose Hallowell has been convicted of shoplifting a $4.99 cassette tape from a Sears store in Montgomery Township. District Justice Robert Kulp, calling his decision "the most difficult thing I ever had to do," found Hallowell guilty Thursday on a charge of retail theft and fined him $25. David Runkel, a spokesman for Gov. Dick Thornburgh, said Thornburgh will review the matter to decide "what, if any, action" against Hallowell is appropriate.

Despite objections by the prosecutors, a Municipal Court judge Wednesday dismissed a grand theft charge against a former Japanese dignitary whose shoplifting case was initially dropped after Mayor Tom Bradley contacted police at Los Angeles International Airport. Judge Ronald Schoenberg granted a request for a "civil compromise" by defense attorneys representing Yukio Umemura, 59, and ordered him to pay $300 in court costs.

Kaushik began shoplifting gum balls at age 7 and eventually graduated to carbonated beverages, books, expensive name-brand deodorant and hair gel, usually from high-end malls. He didn't need to swipe the merchandise; his family was comfortably middle class. But Kaushik, now 28, relished the adrenaline rush and his ability to look calm as his heart raced. "It's totally the thrill, the sense of power of hoodwinking the security," said the New Delhi media employee, who would give only his first name, adding that he had quit stealing six years ago. "I had no moral dilemma, only concern over the legal ramifications if I got caught.

While many merchants prefer not to discuss shoplifting, retailers in Washington take a different approach. Each year from September through Christmas, they support a public campaign aimed at curbing shoplifting. Organized by the Greater Washington Board of Trade, the $1.5-million campaign features ads on television, radio, billboards and in newspapers and magazines.

Anne Droid looks like a typical mannequin, except for an unusual twinkle in one eye. That twinkle means Anne Droid can "see" you. She can also "hear" and even "remember." Anne Droid is a surveillance mannequin designed to watch for shoplifters, an idea that has caught the eye of some retailers. "My wife is a jeweler," says F. Jerry Gutierrez, Anne Droid's creator. "We were in a jewelry store and they had a TV monitor set up, but I couldn't find the camera.

The mayor of Blacksburg has been charged with shoplifting two Valentine's Day cards and a candle, police said. Mayor Geraldine Dixon, 47, was arrested last week after she was detained by Wal-Mart Discount City employees, Gaffney Police Sgt. Danny Griggs said Friday. Dixon was charged with taking $3.54 in merchandise and released after paying a $237 bond, Griggs said.

Kaushik began shoplifting gum balls at age 7 and eventually graduated to carbonated beverages, books, expensive name-brand deodorant and hair gel, usually from high-end malls. He didn't need to swipe the merchandise; his family was comfortably middle class. But Kaushik, now 28, relished the adrenaline rush and his ability to look calm as his heart raced. "It's totally the thrill, the sense of power of hoodwinking the security," said the New Delhi media employee, who would give only his first name, adding that he had quit stealing six years ago. "I had no moral dilemma, only concern over the legal ramifications if I got caught.

With the Occupy L.A. tent community just steps from the L.A. Mall, one might expect the underground retail center to be reaping the benefits of the growing crowd. But many merchants said it's been more of a headache than a windfall. Salim Virani said his dry-cleaning business has suffered from layoffs in recent months at nearby government facilities downtown, including Los Angeles City Hall. So he wasn't thrilled to have Occupy L.A. campers come by and ask him to clean up to 30 sleeping bags, free of charge.

Some people call them teacher of the year, family doctor, engineer or Girl Scout leader. Nancy Clark calls them clients. For 15 years, Clark has run a shoplifting addiction treatment program in Newport Beach. Many clients attend in lieu of possible jail or prison sentences. Despite stereotypes about petty thieves snatching items out of financial desperation, many of the people in the program are well-to-do. They see shoplifting as an addiction that gives an endorphin rush on a par with drugs.

Assemblywoman Mary Hayashi (D-Hayward) has pleaded not guilty to a felony grand theft charge that she shoplifted at Neiman Marcus in San Francisco. The incident, caught on video surveillance, occurred Sunday afternoon when the lawmaker left the department store with a shopping bag containing leather pants and other clothing worth $2,445 that she hadn't paid for, prosecutors said. Hayashi, who faces one count of grand theft, pleaded not guilty Thursday and is out on bail. Her spokesman, Sam Singer, called the incident "a mistake and a misunderstanding.

Actress Lindsay Lohan showed up late for her community service at the county morgue Thursday morning and was turned away, coroner's officials said. Things are not going well for the actress, who received a tongue-lashing a day earlier from L.A. County Superior Court Judge Stephanie Sautner. Lohan was handcuffed and briefly jailed after Sautner found that she had violated her probation and deliberately "blew off" the 360 hours of community service that she had been ordered to complete at the Downtown Women's Center as part of her sentence for shoplifting.

Stung by a new breed of sophisticated thieves, the nation's major retailers are fighting back. These well-organized crime rings have added tough new challenges for merchants who have long contended with petty shoplifters and their own light-fingered employees. Although those concerns remain, retail chains today are plagued by gangs of highly specialized thieves who steal thousands of dollars of merchandise at a time and sell the goods for profit. There are groups of thieves who make fake price tags, put them on merchandise and purchase the items at a fraction of the actual price.

A woman suspected of shoplifting died in a struggle with security guards outside a drugstore in the third such death in the Detroit area in less than a year. The woman, whose name was not released, was detained by guards inside the store after she tried to leave with $200 worth of merchandise, police said. An autopsy was scheduled to determine the cause of death.

A shop owner upset at two 13-year-old boys he suspected of shoplifting is accused of driving them into the Cascade Mountains and leaving them there without socks, shoes or sweaters as temperatures dropped into the 30s. John Whisenhunt, 25, was arrested Thursday and charged with kidnapping. He was being held on $100,000 bail. Whisenhunt is accused of taking the boys from his compact disc store Wednesday and into the mountains after one of them allegedly stole a CD.

The Steal A Cultural History of Shoplifting Rachel Shteir Penguin Press: 258 pp., $25.95 -- Is shoplifting a disease, or a compulsion? Is the "five-finger discount" a form of protest, or is it -- whether motivated by need or greed -- a crime? These are some of the questions Rachel Shteir addresses in "The Steal: A Cultural History of Shoplifting," her attention-grabbing, extremely well-researched study of this dismayingly ubiquitous scourge of retailers.

There's no place in Torrance more thick with thieves than the Del Amo Fashion Center, the city's largest mall. But you wouldn't know that if you looked at the crime map published on the city's website. Launched last year, the city's map promised to use cutting-edge technology to notify residents of the latest crimes in their community. But a Times review has found that the Torrance Police Department deliberately withholds information on hundreds of crimes across the city, including some of the most serious.