Over $40, 000 worth of items were allegedly stolen by a woman from a Target store in San Francisco, officials said on Wednesday, saying that the value total was incurred after the suspect did 120 visits to the establishment.
Aziza Graves, the woman suspected of stealing, was described by San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott as “a particularly brazen and prolific retail theft offender,” KRON4 reported.
District Attorney Chesa Boudin’s office statement said that the woman was suspected to use Target’s self-checkout counter to scan the items but left with paying the merchandise incompletely. She sometimes gives some amounts like $1 in cash or even a single cent for her shopped products.
She did the crime between October last year and November 2021. Her arrest was made on Tuesday at the store after the district attorney’s office and the San Francisco police department’s investigation.
She is facing eight felony counts of grand theft charges as well as 120 misdemeanor counts of petty theft, according to the district attorney’s office.
In September, city officials in San Francisco introduced a plan to address the cases of brazen shoplifting in city businesses.
Boudin’s office said Target officials have already contacted the office and appealed for Graves to be investigated.
“We are committed to stopping those who participate in organized retail theft, including by dismantling the fencing networks that make this type of crime profitable,” Boudin said in a statement.
Criticisms have been thrown to Boudin, who is facing a recall election in June, after what was accused to be a failure to take legal actions against repeat lawbreakers and turned a blind eye on the increasing crime in the city that impacts the quality of life.
The crime-hit San Francisco is warning its tourists to keep their valuables safely in their cars. There have been videos of crime, like brazen shoplifting, circulating that make the city be tagged as a lawless area.