Connecticut couple accused of stealing $1 million from Lululemon

According to the complaint, a Connecticut couple has been charged with participating in a complex retail theft targeting clothing company Lululemon that may have amounted to $1 million.

The couple, Jadion Anthony Richards, 44, and Akwele Nickeisha Lawes-Richards, 45, were arrested on November 14 in Woodbury, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis-St. Paul. The Ramsey County Attorney’s Office said Richards and Lawes-Richards were each charged with one count of organized retail theft, which is a felony. They come from Danbury, Connecticut.

The alleged operation affected Lululemon stores in multiple states, including Minnesota.

“Thanks to the outstanding work of Roseville Police investigators – including its new Retail Crimes Unit – as well as other law enforcement agencies, the suspects in this massive retail theft operation have been caught,” a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office said in a statement. statement of November 18. “We will do everything in our power to hold these defendants accountable and will continue to work with our law enforcement partners and retailers to put an end to retail theft in our community.”

According to the district attorney, both Richards and Lawes-Richards had posted bail as of Sunday and had agreed to the terms of court-ordered parole. For Richards, the court set bail at $100,000 for a conditional release that includes weekly check-ins, or $600,000 for an unconditional release. Lawes-Richards’ bail was set at $30,000 for conditional release and weekly reports, or $200,000 for unconditional release. They are scheduled to appear in court again on December 16.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said prosecutors asked for $1 million bail for each half of the couple.

Authorities accuse Richards and Lawes-Richards of orchestrating an elaborate retail theft scheme that dates back to at least September. Their joint arrests came a day after the pair allegedly set off store alarms in an attempt to drop off Lululemon in Roseville, Minnesota, and a retail organized crime investigator, identified in charging documents by the initials RP, recognized them.

The wife was allowed to leave the Roseville store. However, an investigator later told the officer who responded to the incident that Richards and Lawes-Richards were experienced shoplifters who had apparently stolen nearly $5,000 worth of Lululemon items that day and were potentially “responsible for hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses” to stores in the area the entire country,” according to the complaint. Ultimately, the investigator estimated the number for the brand to be even higher, and the criminal complaint put it at as much as $1 million.

Richards and Lawes-Richards allegedly involved other people in their shoplifting activities, but neither of them were named in the complaint. Authorities said they successfully carried out the theft by distracting store employees and then making false returns of stolen items at various Lululemon stores.

“Between October 29, 2024 and October 30, 2024, RP documented eight theft cases in Colorado involving Richards and Lawes-Richards and an unidentified woman,” the complaint said, describing an example of how the operation allegedly unfolded.

“The group collaborated using specific organized crime retail tactics, such as blocking and distracting associates in order to commit major thefts,” the complaint states. “They selected coats and jackets and held them up as if they were looking at them in a way that obscured staff and other guests while selecting and hiding items. In many stores they have removed the security sensors with some type of tool. “

CBS News reached out to Lululemon for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

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