For stealing goods worth over $1 million from home improvement stores around the Southwest, a man has been sentenced to prison.
Juan Ambriz-Rincon will serve a three and a half-year jail sentence for the organized retail theft, according to a Thursday announcement made by Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell.
Ambriz-Rincon entered a guilty plea to five felony counts in April, including possession of hazardous substances, trafficking in stolen property, and organized retail theft. He is sentenced to three years in prison and $300,000 in compensation.
According to the county attorney’s office, Ambriz-Rincon spent more than a year traveling from New Mexico to Arizona and pilfered $46,000 worth of merchandise from Home Depot and other home improvement stores around Maricopa County.
According to reports, he took a pricey item, left without paying, and then sold it online. He also pilfered from other companies in California and New Mexico as well as Home Depot locations.
“Rather than being gainfully employed, this criminal made it his full-time job to steal over $1M from retail stores and then re-sell the stolen merchandise,” Mitchell stated. “This significant restitution combined with the prison sentence lets offenders know Maricopa County is not the place where you can get away with this type of crime.”
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Throughout her tenure as county attorney, Mitchell has been taking a tough stance against organized retail crimes. Two ladies were also apprehended by her staff for allegedly stealing $6,600 worth of products from multiple cheap clothing retailers in the Phoenix region.
Because of Mitchell’s experience with organized retail theft cases, Home Depot and other corporations wanted her to prosecute Ambriz-Rincon in Arizona, despite the fact that the crimes were done across multiple states.
“The Home Depot continues to feel the pressure of organized retail crime across the country. The work of Rachel Mitchell and her team is instrumental in ensuring we can reverse this growing trend in Maricopa County,” The Home Depot’s Sean Browne, senior manager of Organized Retail Crime stated.
