Organized Retail Crime Laws by State

Why Organized Retail Crime Is Treated Differently From Shoplifting

Shoplifting statutes were written for a single person taking a single item from a single store. Penalties usually turn on the value of what was taken in that one incident, and in many states a theft below the felony threshold is a misdemeanor no matter how often it happens. That structure works poorly against groups that steal in volume, spread the losses across many stores and days, and sell the goods through a fence or an online marketplace.

Organized retail crime (ORC) differs in three ways that matter to prosecutors. The thefts are coordinated, often with assigned roles such as boosters, lookouts, drivers and organizers. The goods are taken for resale or fraudulent return rather than personal use. And the losses are spread out, so no single incident may look serious on its own. A crew that takes a modest amount from each of a dozen stores over several weeks may never cross a felony line if each theft is charged separately.

States responded by creating specific offenses. Most of these laws let prosecutors add up thefts across stores, counties and a set period of time, reach the people who organize and finance the activity, and charge those who buy or resell the stolen goods. Several also give the state Attorney General authority to prosecute cases that cross county lines, or set up dedicated units and task forces.

How These Laws Differ

No two state statutes are identical. Retail loss prevention and asset protection leaders who operate in more than one state should expect differences in at least four areas.

Aggregation Windows

Most ORC statutes allow separate thefts to be combined into one charge, but the window varies. Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and the District of Columbia use 90 days. Florida uses 120 days, as does Nevada. Massachusetts, Oregon, Texas and Washington use 180 days. New Mexico uses one year. Some states, such as Missouri and Delaware, allow aggregation of a series of thefts without stating a fixed window in the section itself. Several statutes also allow the case to be brought in any county where one of the thefts occurred, which matters when a crew works a regional corridor.

Value Thresholds

Dollar thresholds range widely. Illinois sets $300 for the manager offense. Florida and Washington start at $750. Maryland and North Carolina apply above $1,500, South Carolina above $2,000 and West Virginia at $2,000. Massachusetts applies above $2,500, while New Mexico and Pennsylvania start at $2,500. Nevada starts at $3,500, Oregon and Virginia at more than $5,000, and Ohio at $7,500. Some states have no stand-alone threshold in the ORC definition and instead tie it to the general theft grading scale. Several states also define value as the retail price including tax, which makes accurate loss valuation by the retailer important.

Organizers, Fences and Online Resale

Many statutes reach beyond the people inside the store. California, Illinois, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia all reach people who recruit, direct, organize or finance others. Louisiana, Michigan, South Carolina and Virginia specifically cover receiving or buying stolen retail property for resale. New York’s offense targets the use of websites, apps and online marketplaces to sell goods the seller knew or should have known were stolen. Michigan’s act and Oklahoma’s list of qualifying factors also address defeating anti-theft devices.

Task Forces and Attorney General Units

Some states added enforcement structures alongside the criminal offense:

• California: the California Highway Patrol Organized Retail Theft Program operates regional Organized Retail Crime Task Forces with the state Department of Justice, and the related regional property crimes task force no longer has a sunset date.
• Florida: the Attorney General announced a Retail Theft Investigative Special Task Force through the Office of Statewide Prosecution in November 2025.
• Georgia: the Georgia Attorney General’s Organized Retail Crime Unit was created in July 2024 as the first statewide unit of its kind in the state.
• Michigan: the Organized Retail Crime Act created an organized retail crime advisory board within the Department of State Police.
• Nevada: NRS 205.08345 authorizes the Attorney General to investigate and prosecute organized retail theft.
• New Jersey: the 2025 law directs the Attorney General to take steps to investigate, prosecute and deter organized retail theft, which may include a retail theft unit or task force.
• Oklahoma: HB 1592 recreated the Oklahoma Organized Retail Crime Task Force and authorized the Attorney General to staff it.
• Pennsylvania: the 2023 amendment to 18 Pa.C.S. § 3929.3 established the Office of Deputy Attorney General for Organized Retail Crime Theft, with prosecutors assigned to regional districts.

Organized Retail Crime Statutes at a Glance

The table lists states with a specific organized retail crime or organized retail theft offense that McCray verified on an official state legislature, code or government website. Each law name links to the official source. The summaries are simplified and do not list every element, penalty tier or exception.

State	Law	What it covers	In effect
Arizona	A.R.S. § 13-1819, Organized retail theft	Removing merchandise without paying, alone or with others, intending to resell or trade it, or using a device or container to help remove it. Class 4 felony.	Current law
California	Penal Code § 490.4, Organized retail theft	Acting in concert to steal from merchants or online marketplaces to sell, exchange or return the goods for value; also receiving the goods and directing or financing others.	Sunset removed effective Jan. 1, 2025
Delaware	11 Del. C. § 841B, Theft: organized retail crime	Taking or receiving retail merchandise in quantities not normally bought for personal use, intending to resell or reenter it into commerce. A series of thefts may be aggregated.	Current law (76 Del. Laws, c. 98)
District of Columbia	D.C. Code § 22-3211.01, Directing organized retail theft	Recruiting, directing or coercing others to steal merchandise worth more than $1,000 over 90 days for resale or fraudulent return. Felony.	June 8, 2024
Florida	Fla. Stat. § 812.015(8), Felony retail theft	Retail theft becomes a third degree felony when thefts are coordinated, conspired for resale, committed at more than one location or carried out by distraction, with values of $750 or more aggregated over 120 days.	Last amended 2024
Illinois	720 ILCS 5/16-25.1, Organized retail crime	Retail theft in concert with others that involves assault, battery or damage to store property; separately covers managers who recruit, direct or finance theft or fencing above $300.	Current version eff. May 13, 2022
Louisiana	La. R.S. 14:67.25, Organized retail theft	Intentionally procuring, receiving or concealing stolen retail property with intent to sell, deliver or distribute it.	2007; amended 2016 and 2017
Maryland	Md. Code, Crim. Law § 7-104.1, Organized retail theft	A series of thefts from one or more retail merchants over 90 days, alone or with others, to keep, return or resell the goods, with aggregate value over $1,500. Felony.	Oct. 1, 2025
Massachusetts	M.G.L. c. 266, § 30D, Organized retail crime	Acting with two or more people within 180 days to steal or obtain by fraud more than $2,500 in merchandise to resell; higher tiers for over $10,000 and for leaders.	Current law
Michigan	MCL 752.1084, Organized Retail Crime Act	Committing, organizing, financing or conspiring in theft of retail merchandise for resale, defeating anti-theft devices, or buying goods known to be stolen for resale.	Mar. 31, 2013; amendment eff. Jan. 3, 2027
Minnesota	Minn. Stat. § 609.522, Organized retail theft	A member of a retail theft enterprise with a prior pattern of retail theft who steals or directs theft, where the goods are resold, advertised, returned for value or tampered with.	2023; amended 2024 and 2026
Missouri	Mo. Rev. Stat. § 570.030, Stealing (organized retail theft)	Raises stealing to a felony when the conduct is part of an organized retail theft, defined as stealing under an agreement to steal from a business; acts may be aggregated across jurisdictions.	Current version eff. Aug. 28, 2025
Nevada	NRS 205.08345, Organized retail theft	Participating in or furthering organized retail theft with aggregated value of $3,500 or more over 120 days. Category B felony; the Attorney General may prosecute.	2009; amended 2011, 2019 and 2023
New Jersey	A4755/S3587 (2025), retail theft law	Upgrades penalties tied to organized retail theft enterprise leaders and fencing, adds gift card packaging rules and directs the Attorney General to address organized retail theft.	Signed Apr. 1, 2025
New Mexico	NMSA 1978, Ch. 30, Art. 16 (2023 HB 234), Organized retail crime	Acting in concert to steal, receive or possess merchandise worth $2,500 or more over one year with intent to sell, exchange or return it. Second degree felony.	Enacted 2023
New York	Penal Law § 165.66, Fostering the sale of stolen goods	Using a website, app or online marketplace to offer stolen retail goods for sale for financial gain when the person knew or should have known they were stolen.	2024
North Carolina	G.S. 14-86.6, Organized retail theft	Conspiring to steal retail property for resale, receiving it, or organizing the scheme; felony tiers start above $1,500 aggregated over 90 days.	2007; most recently amended 2025
Ohio	R.C. 2913.08, Organized theft of retail property	Theft of retail property worth $7,500 or more for sale to a fence or for value, receiving it as part of an enterprise, or organizing or financing the enterprise.	Apr. 9, 2025
Oklahoma	21 O.S. § 1731.2 (HB 1592), Organized retail crime	Theft becomes organized retail crime when two or more listed factors are present, such as intent to resell, two or more people acting jointly, theft tools or defeating anti-theft devices.	Nov. 1, 2025
Oregon	ORS 164.098, Organized retail theft	Acting in concert to steal merchandise from a mercantile establishment where the total taken in any 180-day period exceeds $5,000. Class B felony.	2007; amended 2023
Pennsylvania	18 Pa.C.S. § 3929.3, Organized retail theft	Organizing, coordinating, financing or managing an organized retail theft enterprise; grading starts at $2,500 in stolen merchandise held by the enterprise.	2010; amended eff. July 1, 2024
South Carolina	S.C. Code § 16-13-135, Organized retail crime	Two or more people conspiring to steal retail property worth more than $2,000 over 90 days for a fence, or receiving that property. Includes an aggravated form.	June 13, 2013; amended 2025
Texas	Penal Code § 31.16, Organized retail theft	Stealing from a merchant in concert with others or on two or more occasions within 180 days, benefiting from that theft, or acting together to overwhelm a store’s security response.	Amended version eff. Sept. 1, 2025
Virginia	Va. Code § 18.2-103.1, Organized retail theft	Conspiring to steal retail property worth more than $5,000 over 90 days for resale and placing it with a fence, or organizing the scheme. Class 3 felony.	2023
Washington	RCW 9A.56.350, Organized retail theft	Theft or possession of $750 or more from a mercantile establishment with an accomplice, or cumulative thefts of $750 or more within 180 days.	2006; amended 2009 and 2017
West Virginia	W. Va. Code § 61-3A-7, Organized retail theft	A common scheme with two or more others to shoplift merchandise worth a cumulative $2,000 or more with intent to sell, trade or distribute it.	2017; amended 2021

States not listed may still prosecute coordinated theft under general theft, conspiracy, receiving stolen property or racketeering laws, or may have an ORC offense that could not be confirmed on an official source when this page was reviewed.

Federal Status

There is no federal organized retail crime offense in force. In the 119th Congress, the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act of 2025 was introduced as H.R. 2853 and S. 1404 on April 10, 2025. According to congress.gov, the House passed H.R. 2853, as amended, on May 12, 2026 by a vote of 348 to 60, and the Senate received it and referred it to the Committee on the Judiciary on May 13, 2026. S. 1404 was read twice and referred to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary on April 10, 2025. Neither bill had become law as of the review date of this page.

What This Means for Retailers

An ORC statute only helps if a prosecutor can prove its elements. Aggregation, intent to resell, coordination and value all depend on records that the retailer creates. Stores that document incidents well give police and prosecutors what they need to connect separate events into one case.

Documentation That Supports Prosecution

• Record the date, time, store and exact location of each incident, along with the number of people involved and their roles.
• Preserve video and note the camera and time stamps that show the event, then follow the retailer’s retention policy so footage is not overwritten.
• List each item by SKU with its retail price, since several statutes measure value at the posted price including tax.
• Note indicators of resale intent or coordination, such as bags or tools used to defeat tags, repeat vehicles, lookouts or the same people at more than one location.
• Keep reports factual and objective, with no conclusions about guilt, so they hold up as evidence.

Incident Reporting Standards

Aggregation windows of 90, 120 or 180 days mean that a report written today may matter months from now when it is linked to other incidents. A consistent reporting format across all stores makes those links possible. McCray officers document incidents on scene, and each report is time-stamped and GPS-verified so asset protection teams can match events across locations and dates.

Coordination With Police and Prosecutors

Many ORC cases cross county or state lines. Retailers that build working relationships with local police, regional task forces and, where they exist, Attorney General units are better placed to have related incidents combined. Sharing organized, well-documented case files with investigators is often what turns several misdemeanor reports into one felony case.

The Officer’s Role: Observe, Report and Deter

A uniformed or plainclothes officer is not a substitute for police. The officer’s job is to deter through presence, observe and recognize ORC indicators, report accurately and escalate under the retailer’s policy. McCray’s tier-based training for retail posts includes de-escalation and organized retail crime recognition. For more on how this works in practice, see Retail Security Services and the McCray insight on organized retail crime and the luxury client experience.

McCray supports retail asset protection programs in major markets, including New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, Boston, San Francisco and Washington, DC.

Important Note

Laws change often in this area, and several of the statutes above were amended in 2024 and 2025. This page is general information, not legal advice, and it does not describe every element, penalty or defense. Retailers should confirm current law with counsel and with local prosecutors before relying on any provision. Last reviewed November 2026.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Is the Difference Between Organized Retail Crime and Shoplifting?

Shoplifting is usually charged one incident at a time based on the value taken. Organized retail crime statutes target coordinated theft for resale, allow separate thefts to be added together over a set period and often reach the organizers and buyers of stolen goods.

Which States Have an Organized Retail Crime Law?

This page lists 25 states and the District of Columbia whose organized retail crime or organized retail theft provisions were confirmed on official government sources. Other states may address the same conduct through general theft, conspiracy or racketeering laws.

Is There a Federal Organized Retail Crime Law?

Not yet. The House passed H.R. 2853, the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act of 2025, on May 12, 2026, and it was referred to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary on May 13, 2026. The companion bill, S. 1404, is also in that committee.

What Records Help Prosecutors Bring an ORC Case?

Time-stamped incident reports, preserved video, item-level loss values at retail price and notes on coordination or resale intent. Consistent reporting across stores helps investigators link incidents inside a statute’s aggregation window.

Should Security Officers Stop Organized Retail Crime Suspects?

Officer actions should follow the retailer’s written policy and state law. In most retail programs the officer’s role is to deter, observe, report and escalate to police, not to pursue or physically confront a group.