What is it? Organized Retail Theft, distinguished from common Retail Theft, is where a person intentionally conducts, promotes, or facilitates an activity in which the person receives, possesses, conceals, stores, barters, sells, or disposes of a total value of not less than $1,500 of stolen retail merchandise.
What makes it illegal? The Texas Criminal Penal Code Sec. 31.16. ORGANIZED RETAIL THEFT indicates that a person commits an offense if he person intentionally conducts, promotes, or facilitates an activity in which the person receives, possesses, conceals, stores, barters, sells, or disposes of a total value of not less than $1,500 of stolen retail merchandise.
What are the Punishments? For individuals arrested for ORGANIZED RETAIL THEFT the penalty is dependant on the value of property stolen.
An offense under this section is: (1) a state jail felony if the total value of the merchandise involved in the activity is $1,500 or more but less than $20,000; (2) a felony of the third degree if the total value of the merchandise involved in the activity is $20,000 or more but less than $100,000; (3) a felony of the second degree if the total value of the merchandise involved in the activity is $100,000 or more but less than $200,000; or (4) a felony of the first degree if the total value of the merchandise involved in the activity is $200,000 or more.
Common Criminal Cases Involving Theft Arrests: The most common Organized Retail Theft cases and Organized Retail Theft arrests involve shoplifting schemes where employees design a system by which they can take advantage of security loopholes at a retail store, or where an employee creates a pattern of shoplifting and theft over a period of time.