OAK RIDGE, Tenn. (WATE) – A group of female retail theft suspects are accused of taking around $3,300 worth of stolen shoes and merchandise Thursday afternoon after police witnessed the alleged heist.

This, ahead of the most busy time of year for shopping – and retail theft. Most if not all law enforcement beef up their retail crime units in order to combat instances like these.

An Oak Ridge police patrol officer was at the right place at the right time Thursday afternoon when they noticed a group of females walking into a Rack Room Shoes store with empty bags. They alerted another officer nearby, who watched those same alleged females run out of the store with what police believed were stolen goods.

Officers apprehended the females – all six of them, and recovered the allegedly stolen items, said to be valued around $3,300.

The Anderson County Sheriff’s Office responded to the scene to take the suspects to the Anderson County Detention Facility.

All six suspects are from the Knox County area, ORPD said Thursday evening.

The six alleged thieves are facing a variety of the following charges:
▪️ Theft
▪️ Conspiracy
▪️ Criminal impersonation
▪️ Possession of tools to interfere with anti-theft security devices

ORPD saying three of the suspects also had multiple active warrants from other agencies.

The investigation is ongoing and names and ages of the females have not yet been released by police officials.

The Oak Ridge Police Department said it would like to thank the Knox County Sheriff’s Office Organized Retail Crime Unit for helping coordinate with ORPD investigators on this case.

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