Several agencies team up to stop organized retail crime in Gaston County

GASTON COUNTY, N.C. — Federal, state, and local law enforcement are teaming up to stop organized retail crime.

Several agencies in Gaston County are working with the State Bureau of Investigation and Homeland Security to prosecute retail theft rings.

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The crimes cost retailers more than $100 billion in losses in 2022, and that means consumers now have to pay more.

Authorities said 67% of retailers they surveyed believe suspects have gotten more violent.

The new task force aims to recover the stolen property from criminals operating in and out of Gaston County.

As part of an undercover operation in 2022, the task force recovered $167,000 worth of stolen products from one man in Kings Mountain. Jeremy Shane Huffman would buy stolen items from 15 to 20 different shoplifters and then resell the items to the network level above him. Those items would eventually end up on popular websites, investigators said.

Huffman earned about $5,000 a week from the crimes, investigators said.

The shoplifters were charged with felony larceny and authorities said some of them became informants. As for Huffman, he was arrested, charged, and later convicted of organized retail crime. He’s in prison serving a two to three-year sentence.

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