2 women charged in Lululemon shoplifting scheme in Minneapolis
MINNEAPOLIS — Two Minnesota women are accused of orchestrating thefts of several thousand dollars worth of goods from a Lululemon store in Minneapolis and then smuggled the stolen goods through a suburban nail salon.
My Hoang Thi Van, 56, and Kathy Nguyen, 24, each face one felony count of organized retail theft. Minneapolis police tracked down the roommates from the Crystal suburb after receiving a tip from corporate investigators about the high-end sporting goods chain, the Star Tribune reported.
The criminal complaints filed Thursday say Lululemon investigators noticed high shoplifting losses at its downtown Minneapolis store and then identified a suspect through surveillance video and interviews with store employees. That suspect, who has not been charged, allegedly stole bags from a merchandise rack, filled them with goods and left without paying.
Investigators placed GPS tracking tags in several bags and when the person stole them, they followed her movements. The woman allegedly took the stolen goods to Diamond Nails Salon in Crystal and then left the salon without the bags, but with a “large amount of cash in her hand,” the complaint said.
When police arrested the shoplifter, she told them she had been instructed to steal clothing from a woman who worked at the salon, whom she identified as Van. She said Van would pay her $400 for the clothing and remove the theft sensors, then place the stolen goods in a plastic bag and resell them. She estimated she had made at least 100 transactions with Van.
Police later found “numerous white plastic bags containing stolen Lululemon items” in the suspects’ home, along with removed anti-theft tags, the complaint said.
The total value of the merchandise stolen from the store was still being tallied, but the complaint stated it was “well over $5,000.”
Nguyen’s attorney did not immediately respond to a phone call seeking comment Friday. Court records did not list an attorney for Van, and she did not immediately respond to a phone call from The Associated Press.