Two Dallas men have been charged with theft in Minnesota for allegedly stealing around $18,500 worth of calculators in a one-day crime spree last month.
Antonio Griffin Jr., 30, and Zachary Charles Fininen, 23, were arrested last month on one count each of felony organized retail theft in the Twin Cities metro area. If found guilty, they could face up to 10 years in prison.
On February 21, they were allegedly spotted by an asset protection employee concealing calculators inside their rolling cooler at a Target in Woodbury. When taken into custody outside the store, they were reportedly found with over $5,500 worth of merchandise.
The suspects were linked to the theft of calculators that occurred earlier that day at the same store and thefts at six other nearby Target locations: Eagan, Lakeville, West St. Paul, Burnsville, Apple Valley, and Apple Valley South. In total, the pair allegedly stole around $18,500 worth of calculators in one day.
Moreover, Griffin and Fininen are believed to be part of a larger theft ring based in Dallas responsible for stealing around $250,000 worth of calculators, per charging documents.
They have since bonded out of jail, despite a request by the Washington County prosecutor to increase their bail because of their Texas addresses and their having “committed crimes in multiple jurisdictions,” according to CBS News.
In Dallas, property theft represents the majority of offenses clocked citywide this year as of March 7, according to data from the City’s crime analytics dashboard. These 10,999 offenses do not include 388 robberies, which have risen year-over-year by 2.9%.
One of the fastest-growing property crime categories in Dallas is motor vehicle theft, which saw record-high incidents last year.
The Metroplex Civic & Business Association’s monthly comparative studies between Downtown Dallas and Fort Worth’s city center show that the former regularly sees far more crime. Last month, Downtown Dallas had 61 times more motor vehicle thefts than Fort Worth’s city center, which is patrolled by a specialized police unit and private security teams.
The Dallas Police Department has been grappling with a longstanding officer shortage. Although a City analysis of policing by population size recommended that Dallas have a force of around 4,000 officers, DPD fields only around 3,000.
Moreover, City officials approved DPD a budget of $654 million this fiscal year, allocating considerably fewer taxpayer dollars to public safety than the leaders of other high-crime jurisdictions, such as New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago.
