Elderly Man Busted for Running Shoplifting Ring, Police Say

An elderly Waukesha man is accused of running a retail theft ring in southeastern Wisconsin by purchasing stolen merchandise and selling the pharmacy-related items online.

Raymond F. Hatch, 77, was charged Friday in Waukesha County Circuit Court with four counts of conspiracy to commit  felony retail theft and two counts of receiving stolen property. If convicted, he faces up to 7.5 years initial confinement in prison and $60,000 in fines.

An investigator with Target stores in southeastern Wisconsin reported to a Waukesha detective in July 2012 that he felt that recent thefts of Crest White Strips, Mucinex, Rogaine and Claritin were stolen as a part of an organized ring. The stolen items were hidden in laundry hampers, storage totes or garbage cans, according to the criminal complaint.

Fifty-four similar theft instances from Target stores in 2011 and 2012 totaled a loss of about $42,500 for the stores, according to the complaint.

The Waukesha detective followed up with a retail theft investigation in Menomonee Falls where two people who had been arrested in September 2011. The suspects in that case told an officer they were selling the stolen items to “a guy named Ray in Waukesha,” the complaint states.

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Detectives interviewed several suspects in the retail theft ring, who gave them information identifying Hatch as the leader. And in November 2012, a detective learned Hatch was suspected in purchasing the contents of stolen cargo trailers in Milwaukee, according to the complaint.

A confidential informant worked with Waukesha police in November to plan a retail theft. Hatch asked the informant to steal various drug store-type items, telling the informant twice to “just be careful,” the complaint states.

Hatch purchased drug store items, like Crest White Strips, Rogaine and Gillette razors, from the informant for $300 on Dec. 5. The merchandise totaled $1,388.72, according to the complaint.

Later that day, Hatch again purchased merchandise worth $1,293.37 from the informant for $240, according to the complaint.

A search warrant served at Hatch’s home in the 400 block of Carriage Drive revealed large quantities of Crest White Strips, Rogaine, Mucinex, Prilosec, Zyrtec and Abreva, as well as shipping supplies. The merchandise at the home was worth about $16,400, according to the complaint.

Hatch told police he made his wife sell the items on eBay and Amazon, although his wife did not know the items were stolen, according to the complaint. He previously sold items to a company in Milwaukee, but because the company was dishonest and was not paying him for all the merchandise, he stopped using the company.

Hatch estimated he saw between 50 and 100 people per week who sell him items in Milwaukee. He also estimated selling about $100,000 in stolen merchandise, bringing him a profit between $15,000 and $30,000, according to the criminal complaint.