Pennsylvania men ran pet supply business by stealing inventory from PetSmart locations
Richmond VA March 3 2018 The first heist happened in Colonial Heights, near Petersburg, according to court documents.
From there, the seven-person crew struck stores in North Chesterfield, Midlothian, Richmond and Mechanicsville before heading east toward Hampton Roads.
By the end of the day, they’d hit at least nine businesses.
Their target: pet supplies.
Joseph Heim Jr., 42, of Harrisburg, Pa., and Timothy B. Erb Jr., 24, of Wormleysburg, Pa., were indicted last week in connection with a shoplifting ring that targeted PetSmart locations across Virginia and North Carolina. They were arrested May 6, 2016, in Suffolk.
In all, the conspiracy netted at least $38,000 worth of pet supplies and possibly more than $100,000, according to court documents.
“This is very, very profitable,” said Robert Moraca, a vice president with the National Retail Federation. He referred to it as “organized retail crime,” and said it, along with shoplifting in general, is a growing problem. He said the industry now views it as more serious to their profits than internal theft, administrative errors and vendor fraud.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Randy Stoker declined to comment on the indictment, which charges the men with conspiracy and interstate transport of stolen property.
Federal court records do not list attorneys for Heim and Erb, who have been incarcerated for almost two years on state charges.
Heim entered into a plea agreement with state prosecutors and was sentenced last year to three years in state prison. Suffolk prosecutors on Wednesday dropped charges against Erb in light of the federal case.
According to the indictment, Heim and Erb were running a pet supply business that got its inventory by stealing from PetSmarts.
The indictment alleged the men took orders from their buyers before they stole anything. Two large scale buyers paid about $45,000 for the stolen goods over the span of about two weeks in the spring of 2016, the documents said.
Suffolk Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Susan Walton said the scheme’s scope was much larger, though. According to a transcript of Heim’s guilty plea hearing, she said “over $100,000” was funneled to Heim through a Paypal account in Erb’s name.
The scheme involved at least two shoplifting trips, court documents said. The first occurred in April 2016 and went from Pennsylvania to Fairfax. The second was an apparent three-day spree the following month that swept through North Carolina and into Virginia before ending in Suffolk.
The indictment claims Heim decided which stores were to be targeted and what items were to be stolen. Sometimes he would direct others to fill the large empty bags they brought into the store. Other times he would fill them while his crew served as lookouts, the indictment said.
Among the items targeted: dog shirts, dog collars, pet grooming products and medications, the documents said.
”They literally create shopping lists,” Moraca said of organized shoplifting crews.
When the bags were filled, the crew coordinated their exit via text message, the indictment said. They would meet up outside at assigned vehicles before moving on to the next store.
The spree ended after a PetSmart employee in northern Suffolk noticed Heim and a woman standing in the store with a pile of items at their feet, Walton said in court. The employee called police.
Suffolk Detective Casey Thomas arrived as the woman carried a bulging purse to an SUV in the parking lot.
Walton said Thomas noticed pet supplies piled in the back of the vehicle and a sedan parked next to it. She detained the woman, Heim and Erb. The woman, who is now cooperating with authorities, told police they were part of a crew headed by Heim.
In addition to pet supplies valued at $38,981, police found a list of PetSmart stores in one of the vehicles. The ones they had already hit had check marks next to them, Walton said.
Investigators also tracked down the two people who had been buying the pet supplies – one in Massachusetts and one in Vermont. The indictment claims neither were told they were buying stolen goods.
Moraca said he wasn’t surprised to learn this scheme involved the theft of pet supplies. He said he’s seen outfits target designer jeans, electronics, teeth whiteners and even makeup.
He said crews target non-durable goods that can be expensive to replace. But most importantly, he said, the crews target what they know they can unload quickly and easily. In this case, it just happened to be pet supplies.
When Heim pleaded guilty, his lawyer stressed his client was only admitting to what happened in Suffolk, and only doing it because prosecutors were willing to cap his sentence at three years.
“He denies being a criminal mastermind,” Andrew Page said. “He denies being in charge of all these events.”
In the end, the judge still gave Heim the maximum sentence. And when Heim tried to withdraw his guilty plea, the judge denied the request.
