Groups of thieves are working in teams to rob Natick Mall retailers, police say.
Some travel from Queens, the Bronx, Hartford and other locales to loot stores, according to police records.
Sometimes donning masks and equipped with aluminum-lined “boost bags,” where stolen goods can secretly be stashed without setting off security warnings or devices enabling them to disable anti-theft devices, the thieves distract store employees or customers while a partner pilfers the merchandise and the team dashes for the door, said Natick Police Chief James Hicks said.
The stores’ proximity to the Massachusetts Turnpike makes them a convenient target and an easy getaway.
“When they come in, with three to four to distract, the other three fill their pockets and the next thing you know they’re down the Pike,” Hicks said.
Natick police have arrested dozens of organized retail thieves in the past three years, charging even more with larceny and shoplifting, department records show. While thefts have occurred at Natick businesses for years, including by orchestrated groups, the steady recurrence of the retail thefts statewide has law enforcement, elected officials, retailers, community leaders and other stakeholders grappling with ways to halt the crimes.
Statewide, arrests for shoplifting have surged more than 73% between 2023 and 2025, according to detailed arrest data police must provide monthly to the state Executive Office of Public Safety and Security.
Arrests for larceny in Natick rose 71% in the past three years, while police arrested fewer people for misdemeanor shoplifting. Nearly 23% of those arrests were at addresses in or near the Natick Mall, department records show.
Roughly 40% of the Natick Police theft-related arrests between 2023 and 2025 include charges involving the removal of or deactivation of theft detection devices like sensors that alert when merchandise crosses the store’s threshold. Only one of those arrested was a Natick resident, with the others from communities across the state, as well as Philadelphia, Los Angeles and Cincinnati.
Often, Hicks said, thefts go unnoticed until store inventory checks.
“When I say organized, I mean organized,” Hicks said. “They know what they’re doing.”
The Legislature enacted an organized retail theft statute in 2015, amid growing concern about the crime in Massachusetts. Arrests for organized retail theft mean the suspect is working with two or more individuals to steal and sell stolen goods.
A person can be prosecuted for a misdemeanor shoplifting charge if they steal merchandise valued at $250 or less, but punishment can increase with subsequent thefts. Shoplifters could also be prosecuted for felony larceny if they steal $1,200 or more of goods from a retailer, though prosecutors cannot aggregate multiple thefts to reach that threshold amount. A misdemeanor larceny charge is a non-retail theft of $1,200 or less.
Ryan C. Kearney, general counsel for the Massachusetts Retailers Association, a 4,000-member statewide trade group, said retailers across the state lose $1.2 billion a year in revenue to stolen merchandise, costing the state $78 million in sales tax revenue.
Organized retail theft is a growing concern in Massachusetts, Kearney said. The thefts cause a host of problems for retailers, who have had to lock up merchandise, manage nervous workers who lose time at work testifying in court in theft cases, and spend money on anti-theft technology and other enhancements.
Kearney said his organization is seeing not just the lone shoplifter stealing items at a drugstore but coordinated thefts by thieves who sell the stolen items.
Sometimes, proceeds from the stolen goods fund other crimes like drug and firearm distribution, Kearney said. In 2024, federal authorities charged dozens of members of Boston’s Heath Street Gang with racketeering, conspiracy, gun and drug charges. The alleged sprawling operation had been fueled in 2019, in part, by organized retail theft at stores throughout Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
“We can say that it’s just low-level shoplifting, but once it becomes more sophisticated and it starts to fund other criminal activity, it creates this quality-of-life issue that people tend to overlook,” Kearney said.
Even when accused thieves are prosecuted in Natick District Court, where those arrested by the Natick Police typically go, the cases frequently end in dismissals. Of 411 larceny and shoplifting charges brought in Natick District Court over the past three years, nearly 66% resulted in some form of dismissal, according to Middlesex County District Attorney prosecution data.
For instance, on Feb. 16, 2023, Natick police responded to a Hollister clothing store at the Natick Mall and arrested a 29-year-old man and a 28-year-old woman from Boston for shoplifting, according to police reports. Store security footage showed the woman “piling clothing” worth nearly $680, which the man then stuffed into a backpack. The pair was stopped by Hollister security after passing “all final points of sale” and held until Natick police arrived. An aluminum-lined bag containing the stolen merchandise was found in the backpack. Natick police arrested the pair, charging them with shoplifting over $250, conspiracy and unlawful possession of a theft detection shielding device. Within 24 hours, though, the cases against both were dismissed in exchange for their agreement to pay the court costs.
Hicks said the thefts could cause retailers to raise prices, leading to less foot traffic and a less robust business community in town.
“We want people to come here and feel safe,” Hicks said.
Boston University Professor Maggie Mulvihill contributed to this story, which was produced in her Data Journalism course as part of a partnership between the Natick Report and the BU Department of Journalism’s Newsroom program.