SEATTLE — Prosecutors are banding together with local law enforcement to curb retail crime in King County.
One of the changes King County Prosecuting Attorney Leesa Manion made this year involved launching an Economic Crimes and Wage Theft division. A prosecutor is also dedicated to working solely on retail crimes.
"Rates of theft and the rates at which these crimes are occurring is still very, very high,” said Patrick Hinds, the chief of the Economic Crimes and Wage Theft Division.
From 2021 to 2022, the county's retail crime case filings tripled. Prosecutors say they don't expect as many cases this year, but the problem persists.
"These are not the crime of poverty type shopliftings that we are talking about, we are talking about something either more violent or sophisticated,” said Hinds.
The division tackles crimes involving people like Earnetra Turner.
"Ms. Turner had seven open cases in our court here,” said Prosecutor Nicole Lawson. "We were able to successfully prosecute Ms. Turner. She entered a plea in June of 2023. She caused a couple hundred thousand dollars of loss to King County."
Turner was sentenced to more than four years in prison.
The county's retail crime in 2021-2022 results in about $3 billion in losses to the state.
"I have talked to a number anecdotally that said they are just paying for it out of pocket because they are afraid, they don't want to lose their insurance coverage," said Mark Johnson, with the Washington Retail Association.
Hinds said it is important for people to continue reporting retail crimes to law enforcement because prosecutors need that information in order to create and implement solutions.