A well-orchestrated group of of thieves is targeting Colorado fly
shops. So far they have made off with several thousand dollars in
merchandise. The group is stealing high end product. Among the shops
hit thus far: Laughing Grizzly, Angler’s All, Charlie’s Fly Box,
Trout’s Fly Shop, Orvis Cherry Creek, and Rocky Mountain Anglers.
Thefts occurred February 2-3.
Suspects are two couples, Middle Eastern or Latin in appearance, well
groomed and dressed fashionably. One couple distracts the store
staff while the other steals merchandise. Suspects have called ahead and
verified that you are indeed a specialty fly shop. Cell phone area codes that
have been used are (402) and (815). A Maroon passenger van with an
Illinois license plate # K714 248 was used by the suspects.
Below is the only photo of the suspects that is available at this time.
BE ON ALERT! Protect your business, and if you get a chance to pinch
these crooks by calling the police, do it!
Anglingtrade.com will update developments as more information becomes available.
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They came into Front Range Anglers in Boulder as well, but were detered by cameras and (luckily for us) several staff members on the floor that day. A big THANKS to RMA and Charlie’s for calling us and giving us a head’s up! Word around the campfire is that they’re staying at Renaissance Inn in Louisville–we have even called L’ville and Boulder police to alert them to the situation. Haven’t seen the thieves in two days–let’s hope they caught the bastards!
-Matt Todd
Front Range Anglers
Again??? This Sh*t is getting outta hand. Doesn’t anyone shoplift booze and cigs anymore?
Blow this pick up and put it in the windows with a “Have you seen me stealing form your store” on it.
The Renaissance Inn in Louisville is just around the corner from my house. I’ll keep an eye open for these pos thieves!
Remember some of the simple techniques to help reduce “shrinkage”.
1) Meet and greet every customer within 5sec. or 10ft of them walking into your store. Do this even if you are with another customer or in the process of ringing up a customer at the cash wrap.
2) MAKE EYE CONTACT WITH CUSTOMER!!
3) Engage Customers, NEVER ask a closed ended question. Example: “May I help you find anything today?” That is a BAD question to ask any customer. Always ask open-ended questions where the customer has no choice but to answer you. “where is your next trip going to be?” Get them to respond and engage with you.
4) Be right up front (if you don’t know them) and tell them, “I am not trying to be rude, but due to a series of thefts, please leave your pack or bulky jacket here at the cash wrap, thank you for your understanding”.
5) Post signage up at the entrance to your store and in key locations within your store that indicates your business has survaliance camera’s (or hidden camera’s).
6) A relatively inexpensive way to deter theives is for about a hundred dollars you can purchase 4-6 battery powered fake surveillance camera’s and set them up in key locations within your store. You can also place blacked surveillance
domes in strategic locations in your store.
If someone walked into your store with the intention of stealing, they will be greatly discourage from stealing if you take to heart using some of these tips.
There are more tips of which I am not going to disclose here in this public forum. Just understand a person does not have to be involved in fly fishing to come into your store, ever since E-bay started, anyone who hasn’t the slightest idea what a fly rod is used for, now has a very good reason to pay a visit to your store.
They came through Utah first. They hit Western Rivers Flyfisher in Salt Lake City on Saturday the 27th, and worked Trout Bum 2 as well. We got off light and we wish we would have noticed the losses earlier to put out the word. They followed the listed MO exactly as stated. Thanks for the heads up- we filed a police report yesterday. Hope they catch the bastards.
This is weird. I recognize the area codes for those two phones. 402 is Omaha, Nebraska and 815 is Morris, Illinois where I grew up. They probably came from Chicago and bought cell phones as they went West on route 80.
Although Hutch makes some extremely good suggestions store owners should be very cautious about the use of “fake” cameras. There is a great deal of case law that suggests this is not a good idea, placing cameras within your store establishs a degree of liability on your part, cameras can and have been used as a tool against the premisis, “customers have presented litagation that they had a percieved level of personal security based on the fact the the premise was covered by security cameras”… As with most things it can be a double edged sword..
If that were really the case, every police force in the US would be subject to a law suit for projecting a perceived level of security, when in fact they can’t protect you at all.
What???…. Case law unfortunately has supported cases, wherein fact; a company had installed fake cameras in a lower level of a building by receiving; and a employee would go there to smoke; thieves came in assaulted the employee and the employee fought and won because they said they felt that “security” should have prevented or someone should have seen the act occurring….
2. mall parking lot couple assaulted; fake cameras and inop cameras; no response from security, signage everywhere; wife dies….mall operator sued for negligence “perceived level of security”…
I can go on, let’s not be naive
“customers have presented litagation that they had a percieved level of personal security based on the fact the the premise was covered by security cameras” – only in America.
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It is unfortunate… as with all technology it can be friend or foe, ask Brett Favre (ie text messages)
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What, exactly did these people take? Obviously, if they’re focusing on high-end fly fishing mdse, they must have a way/plan to get rid of it. Every shop in the country ought to be made aware of what was taken and keep our eyes out for the stuff. Good for E-Trade for making everyone aware.
A number of years ago TFS was broken into and we lost about 6G’s in Abel and other high end reels. We notified every rep and every shop in the west. Another regional shop, Bill Kiene’s in Sacramento (3 hours away) was contacted by the thieves and they were apprehended by the police.
The caution against cameras? Our police department here in Redding is a strong advocate of their use. We were able to identify a fly tier We have little “shrinkage” in part because we subscribe to many/most of Hutch’s suggestions
I started to say our cameras identified a fly tier that was getting quite a collection of fine capes off our pegs. With cameras we were able to identify the guy. With the video evidence we were able to prosecute. Word got around quickly and petty theft, with one exception, has been non-existent.
That one exception: Fluoro Tippet, of all things.
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Just another reason not to support most Ebay items.
I don’t have any fake cameras but the .38 snub I keep in my pocket is real.
Quote:
“I don’t have any fake cameras but the .38 snub I keep in my pocket is real.”
Ha, ha no “perceived” level of security there…
Wolf Creek Anglers in Pagosa Springs was burglarized the night of 03/17/11. Shop was closed for the season. A large number of high end Sage rods and Ross Reels were taken along with misc. other merchandise. Possibly a white SUV & two suspects, nothing else known now. Please contact Detective Maxwell Pagosa Springs Police Department with any info
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