4 arrested in Roswell shoplifting ring

ROSWELL, Ga. — Roswell police have arrested four people they said were behind a shoplifting ring.

Investigators have charged Parris Royster, April Cosby, Kwintha Holden and Gregory Lewis with felony shoplifting stemming from a Dec. 28 theft at the Kohl's department store on Holcomb Bridge Road.

"A lot of shoplifting is what you can put in your pockets, small items," said Officer Zachary Frommer, with the Roswell Police Department. "This was definitely a higher-end operation. They were taking a lot of items and some high-dollar items, too."

Frommer told Channel 2's Mike Petchenik the crew had a specific method of operation that alerted store security to be on the lookout for them.

"They were pretty slick," he said. "They came in, they separated, and they would just go around with individual bags and fill up individual bags and set them up in certain departments near the exit doors so that one person could go get the car and they could walk out with the bags."

Frommer said detectives believe the quartet has stolen from the same Kohl's location previous times and at other locations in Metro Atlanta.

The Douglas County Sheriff's Department told Petchenik that Holden and Cosby are facing a trial this month for felony shoplifting of high-end clothes from a Dillards store at Arbor Place Mall.

He said that on Dec. 28, Frommer said security called police when they saw the crew making a break for the getaway car, and officers quickly apprehended them before they could make off with the 41 bags of merchandise.

Fulton County's jail website shows Royster, Cosby and Holden have bonded out of jail. Lewis remained in custody.

Police said they are looking into whether the four are part of a theft crew.

"You never know who is working with them," Frommer said. "They may be a small part of a larger network, so we're also keeping an eye out for that."

WSBTV