By: Mark Vest | Farmington Press | Published October 23, 2023
FARMINGTON HILLS — On Oct. 18, Farmington Hills resident Brian Roussey, 31, was sentenced to 128 days in jail and two years of probation for three counts of organized retail fraud.
The sentence was handed down by Oakland County 6th Circuit Court Judge Cheryl Matthews and was announced by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, according to a press release.
In September, Roussey pleaded guilty to three counts for operating a theft and resale scheme of KitchenAid brand stand mixers from metro Detroit Target stores.
He was ordered to pay $20,108 in restitution to Target.
Roussey began stealing KitchenAid mixers in late 2020 and continued through late 2022, entering various Target locations throughout the metro Detroit area, walking out with the product without making a purchase, and selling the stolen appliances on public online forums, such as Facebook Marketplace.
The stand mixers retail for as much as $500 per unit, with losses to Target in excess of $20,000, the release states.
The case against Roussey was handled by the Michigan Attorney General’s newly established Organized Retail Crime Unit, operating with Michigan State Police as the Force Team, and the Farmington Hills Police Department. FORCE stands for Focused Organized Retail Crime Enforcement. The team works “in concert with retailers, in this instance Target, to stop these theft-and-resale schemes that cost Michigan businesses and consumers millions of dollars every year,” Nessel stated in a press release. “That partnership is critical to our work against organized retail fraud, and here it put an end to a two-year crime spree.”
The Force Team and the Organized Retail Crime Unit were established in January to target criminal organizations that steal products from retailers to repackage and sell for a profit.
Two assistant attorney generals serve the unit full time, working with special agents within the Department of Attorney General and with Michigan State Police detectives to investigate and prosecute crimes, according to the release.
“This is a first-in-the-nation unit, unique in the 50 states as being the first such unit with embedded, dedicated staff from the Department of Attorney General,” the release states, adding that they work collaboratively with retailers and local law enforcement agencies to combat organized retail crime.
According to the release, the team’s first major investigation produced charges against seven people earlier this year.
Local law enforcement agencies or retailers with evidence of organized retail fraud are encouraged to send an email to MSP-FORCE@michigan.gov.