Natick, Other Towns With Big Malls, Target of Organized Retail Crimes

NATICK, MA - For Natick, and any community with a large mall, police respond not only to many shoplifting calls, but incidents that are likely part of organized retail crime rings.

“Natick (and any community with a large mall) is targeted because the perpetrators, who use rental or stolen vehicles so that they can’t be identified by the registration, are not local and therefore not easily identified through surveillance video,” said said Lt. Cara Rossi-Cafarelli of the Natick Police Department. “Natick is also easily accessible from the Mass. Pike.”

Often, said Lt. Rossi-Cafarelli, the stolen goods are sold to a “fence,” which is a word for a person who sells the goods for them. These fences set up storefronts in cities or sell the hot goods out of cars and vans, or even online or word-of-mouth.

“They usually employee young and/or drug-addicted people to do the actual stealing, which is the greatest risk of being caught/incarcerated,” said Lt. Rossi-Cafarelli, “and then pay them enough to support their drug habit. They will pay for a room or two for these people at the local motels. They steal for a few days, then travel back to deliver the goods to the fence, who in turn sells it for a profit.”

Natick police have worked with several state and federal agencies to try to combat this type of theft at the Natick Mall. The department has even secured grants in order to pay overtime officers to “saturate the mall during what is believed to be the most likely days/times for this behavior.”

Get breaking information and the daily newsletter delivered to your email address. Sign up for your favorite sites here.

>>MIDDLESEX COUNTY

ACTON/ARLINGTON/BEDFORD/BELMONT/BURLINGTON/CHELMSFORD/CONCORD/DOVER-SHERBORN/FRAMINGHAM/HOLLISTON-HOPKINTON/LEXINGTON/MALDEN/MARLBOROUGH/MEDFORD/MELROSE/NATICK/NEWTON /NORTH READING/READING/SOMERVILLE/STONEHAM/SUDBURY/TEWKSBURY/WAKEFIELD/WALTHAM/WATERTOWN/WAYLAND/WESTFORD/WESTON/WILMINGTON/WINCHESTER/WOBURN/

>>WORCESTER COUNTY

GRAFTON/MILFORD/NORTHBOROUGH/SHREWSBURY/WESTBO