'Brazen' Shoplifters Stole $100K In Clothes, Sold Via Instagram

BALTIMORE, MD – Three women from Baltimore have pleaded guilty to their parts in a theft ring that stole $100,000 worth of clothes, features the goods online and sold the items out of a house, authorities say. A news release issued Friday by Maryland Attorney General Brian E. Frosh said Tyrayah Shonita Graham, 23, of Jessup; Donna Leurine Moye, 40, of Baltimore; and Tiara Kianna Baker, 20, of Baltimore, all entered pleas. Graham and Baker pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit a theft scheme of $100,000 or more, while Moye pleaded guilty to theft scheme over $100,000.

Frosh's office said the organized retail theft ring ran from January 2017 to June 2017. The women targeted clothing and accessories retailers such as Dick's Sporting Goods, Victoria's Secret, Pink, Hollister, and ULTA. They would enter a store together, select large quantities of merchandise from store displays and conceal the items in bags brought into the store with them, then leave the store without paying for the goods, prosecutors say.

Images of the stolen goods were then posted on Instagram to advertise the items. The social media posts also included comments discussing prices, brands and instructions on how to purchase the stolen merchandise.

“These women planned and operated a brazen, coordinated shoplifting ring,” Frosh said in the news release. “Many of them walked into a store together, overwhelmed what security was present, grabbed expensive merchandise and fled.”

Graham and Baker acted as high-level “boosters,” shoplifting merchandise from retailers with the intent of reselling the stolen items for monetary or other gain. Moye acted as an intermediary between the “boosters” and a “fence” who was operating a store of stolen merchandise at a residence on North Port Street in Baltimore City.

The theft ring allegedly stole items from stores in several Maryland counties, including Charles, Montgomery, Anne Arundel, Baltimore and Harford.

Baker was sentenced to six years in prison, beginning March 16, 2018. Her sentence will run concurrently with one imposed in an unrelated case. Moye was sentenced to 10 years, with all but time served suspended, and three years’ supervised probation. Graham will be sentenced on Sept. 25.

Two other women – Lisa Marie Williams of Baltimore and Lyric Taj McLaughlin of Muncy, Pennsylvania — were charged in the theft ring and their cases are pending in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City.

The case was prosecuted jointly by the Maryland Attorney General's Office and the State Prosecutor's Office through the Attorney General Fraud and Corruption Task Force.

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