A theft ring that involved two men in their 50s was brought to a halt recently after federal agents raided the Rhode Island homes of the two suspects.
Normal Cipriano, a 52-year-old man from Warwick, and Patrick Vigneau, a 59-year-old man from Cranston, are being charged with leading a retail theft crime ring that targeted retail companies across the U.S.
On Monday, U.S. Attorney Zachary Cunha said authorities seized around 60,000 items from Cipriano’s basement, and from locations in Cranston and Pawtucket.
Both of the suspects were taken into custody on Monday, which marked the culmination of a three-year investigation that was carried out jointly by the Warwick Police Department, Homeland Security Investigations and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.
During a news conference held on Monday, Cunha said investigators found “vast quantities of stolen” goods, which were primarily over-the-counter drugs and cosmetics.
At the Pawtucket location, investigators say they entered into a space indoors that was lined with “all manner of stolen goods, organized, neatly stacked and ready for resale,” according to Cunha, who called it like a “warehouse storeroom.”
Investigators seized around 60,000 items in total, with an estimated value of around $1.6 million, according to prosecutors.
To transport all of those stolen goods, investigators said they needed to use three box trucks, each of which was 24 feet long.
In an ironic twist, investigators said that as they were working at a location that Cipriano owned in Pawtucket, a UPS driver arrived there to deliver between 10 and 15 additional boxes that contained beauty and health products as well as automotive accessories.
Many e-commerce accounts and several bank accounts were also frozen as part of this investigation, prosecutors said.
Court records indicated that investigators say that the warehousing activity carried out by Vigneau and Cipriano relied on having a big team of criminals. Some of the members of the organization, according to Cunha, were recruited to shoplift items from the shelves of retail stores.
These people were referred to as “boosters.” As Cunha explained:
“That theft isn’t random.”
He said that these boosters were targeting specific items at the behest of their crew boss. This person not only tells them what they’re supposed to steal from the stores, but also pays them for doing so.
Cunha said these payments are typically made in either cryptocurrency or cash, to conceal the transactions.
In order for this big of a criminal network to operate, Cunha said that it requires assistance from logistics coordinators and middlemen who are called “fencers.” They provide cleaning and warehousing services to store stolen items after they removed the labels from them.
Vigneau and Cipriano are called the “diverters” and are at the top of the food chain. They are responsible for setting up shell companies, which enables them to conceal their role in the organization and launder the illegal proceeds that they bring in.
The goods that they receive are often then sold to mid-size and smaller retailers who sometimes purchase the goods from them unwittingly.
They’re also sold on online marketplaces directly to consumers.
