TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody announced that the state’s Office of Statewide Prosecution charged a woman suspected of committing dozens of retail thefts across five counties. Below is an official statement from Moody’s office:
Attorney General Ashley Moody’s Office of Statewide Prosecution is charging a woman with organized retail theft for committing multiple thefts in Central and South Florida. Lourdes Rodriguez committed dozens of thefts throughout five counties, stealing from Walgreens, CVS, Ulta, and liquor stores, causing approximately $15,000 in losses. Rodriguez is the third arrest connected to a larger organized retail theft group that caused more than $100,000 in losses to Florida businesses across the state.
“Working with our law enforcement partners and our Florida Organized Retail Crime Exchange Task Force, we dismantled a massive organized retail theft ring with a third arrest this week,” Moody said. “Criminal organizations be warned – in Florida, we have the tools and talent to investigate and take down your criminal enterprise, and you will pay for your crimes.”
According to the Martin County Sheriff’s Office investigation, Rodriguez committed more than a dozen thefts across Brevard, Martin, Palm Beach, Sarasota and Seminole counties. Rodriguez would enter the stores, conceal merchandise in either a bag the defendant brought in with her or one stolen from the business, and walk out with the stolen items.
Rodriguez is connected to a larger organized theft ring, committing a number of thefts with one of the group’s members. The larger group is responsible for more than $100,000 in losses to more than 50 businesses throughout the state.
Rodriguez is charged with two counts of felony organized retail theft and two counts of grand theft. She is currently being held in the Palm Beach County Jail on a number of separate theft-related charges.
Attorney General Moody’s Florida Organized Retail Crime Exchange Task Force played a role in the investigation. In 2021, Attorney General Moody launched FORCE to bring law enforcement, prosecutors and retailers together to use coordination and technology to combat retail theft on a wider scale. To learn more about FORCE, click here.
Assistant Statewide Prosecutor Chris Olowin from Attorney General Moody’s OSP will handle the case.
