A ShopRite supermarket in Newark, New Jersey had been experiencing a rash of thefts, but nothing in the way of groceries. These thieves were allegedly stealing shopping carts.
The store, which normally had as many as 500 carts available for shoppers, noticed that between March and April, that number began to dwindle.
“I think the store manager was the first to notice we’re running low on carts here,” Robert Allen, the real estate manager for ShopRite, tells WNBC-TV. “We have a good security team and started looking at the video, and noticed a red van coming and going. They were even dressed like cart guys with the lime yellow shirts and everything.”
Police arrested 77-year-old Alfredo Rodriguez and 54-year-old Hector Cortes — dubbed the “Shopping Cart Bandits” — after catching them red-handed the very next day. The duo’s crime spree resulted in the theft of at least 140 carts.
So, why steal shopping carts? Believe it or not, they sell for $200 apiece. That adds up to $28,000 Rodriguez and Cortes made selling the hot carts to small bodegas or selling them as scrap metal.
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