COBB COUNTY, Ga. — A California man is behind bars, accused of taking part in a large-scale organized retail theft ring that targeted dozens of Home Depot stores across metro Atlanta, according to a Cobb County arrest warrant.
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Police say Luis Alfredo Monjarret Orozco was arrested after investigators found him in possession of more than $28,000 worth of stolen Home Depot merchandise.
He is now charged with organized retail theft, participating in a RICO enterprise and multiple counts of felony theft by shoplifting.
The alleged thefts happened over several weeks from September through early November 2024 and involved multiple suspects hitting stores across metro Atlanta and North Georgia, according to an arrest affidavit.
Investigators say the group targeted Home Depot locations in several counties, including Cobb, Fulton, Gwinnett, Hall, Douglas, Fayette, Henry, Bartow, Spalding and Upson.
Authorities say the suspects used a repeated scheme inside stores, taking items from store aisles and returning them without a receipt for cash or store credit.
Police also accuse the group of walking out of stores with high-dollar electrical items without paying.
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Experts say organized retail theft is not just a problem for retailers, but it can also impact everyday consumers.
“What we’re talking about, overall losses are probably about $100 billion annually,” said Dr. Read Hayes, a criminologist at the University of Florida.
Hayes said businesses often have to sell multiple items just to recover losses from stolen merchandise.
“And so with the margins that they charge on those, the profit margins, sometimes you’ve got to sell six to 10 items to break even, right? Just to break even,” Hayes said.
Contractors say those rising costs are often passed directly to customers.
Hayes says cases like this can go beyond retail theft and may be connected to more dangerous criminal activity.
“Many of them (suspects) are armed, and they’re not afraid to use their weapons,” Hayes said. “So you’ve got turf wars, you’ve got armed people, you’ve got sometimes desperate people. You can feed terrorism this way, and they’ve tracked stolen goods overseas to funding terrorism.”
Investigators say the case remains active and that additional charges and arrests are possible.
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