State and federal authorities said Friday they’ve busted an organized theft operation in which hundreds of items stolen from stores in central Maine were listed for sale on the online auction site eBay.
The stolen items came from Walmart stores in Palmyra, Bangor, Brewer and Ellsworth, authorities said, and homes were searched Thursday in Bangor, Bucksport and Frankfort that resulted in the seizure of $240,000 in cash.
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No charges have been filed yet in connection with the operation, though a 67-year-old woman was arrested Thursday for allegedly brandishing a handgun when state police searched her Frankfort home as part of the investigation. Jane Tardiff was taken into custody as Maine State Police investigated the possible criminal conspiracy, according to court documents.
The investigation, led by state police Detective Chris Tupper of the Computer Crimes Unit and Trooper Chris Crawford, uncovered a criminal enterprise run by a man from his home in Bucksport and a woman from her home in Frankfort, police said.
Search warrants were executed at two homes on Main Street in Bucksport and for bank vaults at Camden National Bank in Bucksport ,where $140,000 in cash was seized from money bags and envelopes, according to court affidavits. Another $100,000 in cash was seized by police at a private residence, a state Department of Public Safety spokesman said.
State police, working with police departments in Ellsworth, Brewer and Bangor and an investigator from Walmart, began investigating thefts by a group of local thieves caught on store cameras in June. On June 9, police apprehended a suspect in a Walmart store and confiscated his cellphone, hoping to tie phone numbers to others who might be in the group.
Meanwhile, during a review by police of subpoenaed records of eBay transactions, detectives discovered that a user name of “north_southantiques” was used in the sale of items including printer ink, car stereos, rifle scopes and calculators from Frankfort.
State police sent a request for account information. The Walmart global investigator told state police that usually within days of the Walmart stores discovering stolen inventory, the same items appeared on the north-south “store,” according to the affidavit. The location also can be identified by another name, “dontgiveuptheship77.”
The Walmart investigator assured state police that the items found at the eBay stores could not have legitimately been purchased from Walmart because they were being sold for less than Walmart could purchase them for. He also told police the merchandise could not have come from a “distressed store” or from a discount store such as Marden’s. Some of the items even showed specific Walmart packaging.
The phone number listed on the eBay account matched a phone number the state Department of Health and Human Services had for a woman known to Tardiff. DHHS records show the woman receives financial assistance and benefits.
The Walmart investigator purchased an item from the eBay store to learn the address of the seller. PayPal emailed a receipt to the investigator, which included a north_south Gmail address. The item had been shipped from Bucksport – the return address on the package was Frankfort.
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