Posted: 05.07.2008 at 23.20
ATLANTA Street gangs targeting premium denim have stolen merchandise valued at more than $1 million during increasingly brazen robberies and break-ins of over 50 stores in the Atlanta area, police said.
Specialty retailers are locking denim in safes, hiring security guards and dropping some well-known denim lines because of the crime wave by what police have dubbed the "Blue Jean Bandits." Some merchants said they might close because of the added costs and emotional strain.
The stolen goods are resold through an underground network that reaches from street vendors to nightclubs, beauty salons and the Internet, said Detective Rick Anderson of the Atlanta Police Department Retail Theft Task Force. The most popular labels are True Religion, Rock & Republic and Red Monkey, all retailing at about $200 and being resold for an average of $70. The thefts began a year ago as after-hours "smash-and-grabs" in which gang members broke windows to take armloads of denim from folded stacks. They have escalated to daytime holdups in which the thieves are sometimes armed with guns and pepper spray. There have been 28 robberies and break-ins this year.
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