Large-group burglaries resulting in massive financial losses have business owners concerned about security. Law enforcement agencies, including the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office’s ALERT task force that targets retail crime, are searching for culprits.

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Four group burglaries occurred Jan. 27 and overnight into Jan. 28:

• At a cell phone store in the 3900 block of Park Avenue, where about $70,000 worth of merchandise was taken, according to MPD;
• at a GameStop, 5043 Park Ave.;
• at Bud & Hal’s Liquors, 4128 S. Plaza Drive;
• and at Game XChange, 7464 Winchester Road.

All four incidents included a large number of suspects, as security footage released by Memphis Police Department shows, including more than 20 at some scenes.

MPD said the incidents appear to be related.

“The burglaries that occurred overnight from January 27 to January 28, 2023, are believed to be committed by the same crew,” the email read. “Investigators are following all leads and have released videos in several of the cases. Anyone with information on these burglaries should call 901-528-CASH.”

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Don Brignole has been the owner of Bud & Hal’s Liquors in Whitehaven since 1972. Because of the potential for crime, he decided to drive by his business throughout the night Jan. 27 to check on it.

“I had been driving by the store between 9:30 p.m. after we closed and 12:30 a.m.,” Brignole said. “When I didn’t see any activity, I stopped driving by at 12:30 and when I got home, I got an alarm signal and came back at 12:45.”

“They just went in and loaded their cars up with high-dollar brands of cognac, vodka, champagne. I had a $40,000 loss. The police told me the cars used were all stolen.”

Don Brignole
Owner, Bud & Hal’s Liquors

After reviewing security footage with MPD officers, Brignole said he saw the suspects use a white pickup truck to back into his store’s warehouse door. Then 10 to 12 individuals emerged from six or seven vehicles.

“They just went in and loaded their cars up with high-dollar brands of cognac, vodka, champagne,” Brignole said. “I had a $40,000 loss. The police told me the cars used were all stolen.”

Brignole said the suspects “raced in and raced out.”

“They were only here for I guess 10 or 12 minutes, the police were here right after the alarm, and they were gone,” he said.

The large-group burglary is a pattern that appears to be repeating.

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A Walmart store on Elvis Presley Boulevard and ValidKixx shoe store on Winchester Road both experienced group crime incidents within an hour of each other in November. In both events, a large number of suspects broke into the businesses and within a matter of minutes got away with thousands of dollars in stolen merchandise. 

Keith Cannon, the owner of ValidKixx, thinks the group that robbed the Walmart on Elvis Presley Boulevard Nov. 20 was the same group that robbed his store less than an hour later.

“When Walmart released their footage, they (burglars) had the same clothes on that was in my camera footage,” Cannon said. “They hit Walmart at 8:50 p.m. and my store at 9:30 p.m.”

Last week’s break-in was the second smash-and-grab incident Bud & Hal’s Liquor has experienced within the past six weeks, Brignole said.

“When Walmart released their footage, they (burglars) had the same clothes on that was in my camera footage. They hit Walmart at 8:50 p.m. and my store at 9:30 p.m.”

Keith Cannon
Owner of ValidKixx

He reopened his store Monday, Jan. 30, and plans to fortify his business to prevent such incidents from occurring again. 

Cannon previously experienced three other robberies since opening on Winchester in March 2022, making November 2022’s incident his fourth robbery within nine months. 

He subsequently closed the store and is currently looking for a new location.

“They would rather take a risk on just running in here for three minutes versus all of them coming in my store and having an hour-long conversation on how we can build a million-dollar empire,” Cannon said. “Think about if those 24 guys and myself had all met up and put our minds together.

“We could have built something powerful and instead, it’s this.”

Retail theft is focus for the sheriff’s ALERT team 

The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office task force specifically geared toward stopping shoplifting is called ALERT, which stands for “Area Law Enforcement and Retail Team.”

The group works small retail thefts up to large internal thefts at warehouses and stores. 

A detective who works on the ALERT task force spoke with The Daily Memphian on condition of anonymity due to the nature of their work.

The detective said the team has responded to an immeasurable number of cases of group crime since its inception in the early 2000s.

The ALERT team is contacted when a local business owner or asset protection officer has observed a theft within their business. Once contacted, a detective conducts a full investigation into the theft. ALERT assists all police jurisdictions and all businesses within Shelby County.

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“We treat them exactly as a patrol officer would on the scene, taking the initial report at that point in time,” the detective said. “We get our information, tell them everything about us and what we can do, and then run with the case.”

Any business can participate in the ALERT system, which is detailed on the Shelby County Sheriff’s website. Retailers that take part in the system are given a large green sticker with the image of a sheriff’s badge and the SCSO ALERT logo to place on their storefront windows. 

“You don’t necessarily have to call the ALERT team, but call law enforcement because if you don’t call, we can’t help you.”

Shelby County Sheriff’s Office detective

The detective said stolen merchandise, for example designer shoes, are typically resold on online platforms such as Snapchat or Facebook Marketplace.

Those social media platforms have helped the task force solve and make arrests in numerous cases.

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“If you’re a career criminal, you don’t want people to know what you’re doing because it’s your livelihood,” he said. “But kids like to brag, so they are more susceptible to getting on social media and posting things they have stolen.”

About 50% of the cases ALERT works involve juveniles, according to the detective.

The detective said there are things business owners can do both on their own and in collaboration with law enforcement to deter group crime: report any and all shoplifting incidents to police; have an alarm company install a security system; and have the alarm company notify police when any type of disturbance happens while the business is closed.

“You don’t necessarily have to call the ALERT team, but call law enforcement because if you don’t call, we can’t help you,” the detective said. “We can’t go to court in your place, so show up when the DA needs you. Show up and help us prosecute these cases.”

Brignole said he was not aware of the task force: “But now that I know about ALERT, I will look into it.”