Legislation Introduced to Combat ‘Flash Mob’ Thefts

Safety at Work

Washington, DC (WorkersCompensation.com) – Legislation to combat organized retail theft will protect workers, law makers said.

The bill, the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act of 2025, introduced by U.S. Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) would bring together the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and stakeholders including law enforcement and retail partners, to create new ways to tackle organized theft like flash mob robberies.

“Retail crime has cost Iowa billions, and it’s even worse across the nation,” Grassley said. “Organized theft rings deploy innovative tactics to pilfer goods, and it’s causing financial harm to businesses, putting employees and consumers at risk and funding transnational criminal organizations throughout the world. It’s time for the law to catch up and prevent criminals from exploiting the internet and online marketplaces. Our bill improves the federal response to organized retail crime and establishes new tools to recover stolen goods and illicit proceeds and deter future attacks on American retailers.”

The bill would direct DHS to create the Organized Retail and Supply Chain Crime Coordination Center to create new tools to assist local, state, Tribal, and territorial law enforcement with the investigation and prosecution of organized retail crime.

According to the National Retail Federation (NRF), since 2022 more than 84 percent of retailers say that violence and aggression from criminal activities has become more of a concern. That violence, they said, has resulted in injuries and deaths among employees, customers, security officers and law enforcement personnel. NRF also estimates that in 2023, larceny incidents increased 93 percent when compared to the rates in 2019. In recent years, the organization said, criminal organizations have turned to retail crime to generate illicit profits by using internet-based tools to organize flash mobs, sell stolen goods and move money.

The bill was co-sponsored by U.S. Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), James Risch (R-Idaho), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Ted Budd (R-N.C.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Katie Britt (R-Ala.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas).

“Large criminal organizations are constantly evolving their tactics to steal goods from retailers and the supply chain in communities across the Silver State,” Cortez Masto said. “The rise in organized retail crime has left businesses scrambling, and it is time for Congress to pass this bipartisan legislation to help law enforcement agencies keep our communities safe.”

The legislation is supported by a wide variety of law enforcement, retail organizations and employers including the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, the Major County Sheriffs of America, the National Retail Federation, the Retail Industry Leaders Association, and the American Trucking Association

“Highly motivated and sophisticated criminal networks continue to wreak havoc on communities, retailers and employees across America,” Michael Hanson, Senior Executive Vice President of Public Affairs for Retail Industry Leaders Association, said. “They are targeting retailers through brazen organized retail crime schemes, defrauding customers via gift card scams and attacking our supply chains by hijacking our rails and truck shipments. Dismantling these organized criminal rings requires cooperation and collaboration.”

In 2021, theft flash mob incidents increased in frequency. Videos of the events spread across the internet as the pandemic left people home, alone and online. While specific statistics on employee injures from theft flash mobs are difficult to pinpoint, reports indicate that the events caused injuries from assaults and being pepper-sprayed. There were reports in 2021 that some employees were killed in the incidents.

In September of last year, the LAPD released dozens of photographs of people, mostly minors, that were suspected of taking part in a series of flash mob robberies at 14 different 7-11 stores across LA County.

“They're very brazen. They are not worried about being stopped or they're not worried about being seen,” LAPD Detective Supervisor Samuel Arnold said. “They're not even just shoplifting. They're going in and deliberately knocking over expensive items, coffee makers, merchandise, sunglasses, and just completely destroying the store.”

Virtually all the cases are identical, police said, except for the location. The robberies started on July 12 and involved between 20 and 40 teens on bicycles rushing into a store, stealing items and leaving before police could arrive. Police said all but one of the incidents took place on a Friday between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m.

“The look on the faces of some of these juveniles. It's like they're having a good time. They're enjoying it,” Arnold said. “And that is what we need to let them understand. There's no way, shape or form that this behavior is going to be condoned or allowed.”

Last week, the owner of a high-end sneaker in the Montclair Place shopping mall in southern California said his employees were “scared for their lives” after the store was hit by flash mob robbery gangs three times in the past months. In the last incident, store owner Ryan Higuera said one of his employees was assaulted, and that the thieves did $20,00 worth of damage, as well as making off with $15,000 worth of merchandise.

And in Anaheim, Cal., a 7-11 store employee was severely injured during a flash mob robbery in October of last year.

Police said about 50 people entered the store around 1:30 on a Sunday afternoon and “proceeded to assault the store employee and steal merchandise, including the cash register." The incident was not thought to be linked to the 7-11 flash mob robberies in Los Angeles.

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