https://komonews.com/news/local/seattle-area-shoplifters-doing-the-dirty-work-of-crime-bosses

>Are crime bosses paying shoplifters to steal?

There’s mounting evidence that organized retail theft rings are targeting the homeless and drug addicts to do their stealing.

They know the threshold to prosecute has become so high, little or nothing will happen to them if they get caught.

The thieves who walk into stores like Home Depot and take merchandise are brazen, almost knowing they can get away with it.

The owner of two pawn shops in Kent and Renton is under investigation for storing millions of dollars of stolen items in a Kent warehouse and recruiting vulnerable people to steal merchandise in exchange for cash.