Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Attorney General's Office is seeking to seize more than $1 million in assets from pawn shops that were raided by law enforcement during the summer.
On June 19, investigators served search warrants on seven pawn shops along the Wasatch Front simultaneously following numerous complaints that some were acting as fencing operations, or knowingly purchasing stolen goods from people.
The investigation began after Home Depot officials reported to Unified police that they had lost about $60 million due to retail theft over the past five years, according to a statement from Attorney General Sean Reyes' office.
According to the search warrants, undercover officers were able to successfully sell items provided by Home Depot to several pawn shops from March through June. Some of those items were still in their orignal packaging and some still had anti-theft devices on them, the warrants state.
When investigators raided the pawn shops in June, they seized an "overwhelming" amount of property, according to the attorney general's office, ranging from power tools to kitchen appliances to sporting goods.
On Monday, Reyes' office announced it had filed three civil forfeiture complaints.
"The complaints seek to forfeit hundreds of new-in-the-box-items that the Attorney General’s Office alleges were stolen from various local retailers and then sold to pawn shops. Agents and detectives also seized currency from the pawn shops which allegedly represent proceeds from the sale of stolen property," the office stated.
The pawn shops that had items seized are Sportsman Fastcash in West Valley City and Salt Lake City; Xtreme Pawn in Kearns, West Jordan, Riverton and Lindon; and Big Dog Pawn & Jewelry in Murray.
