Eight individuals were arrested and charged in May for their roles in a retail theft ring tied to the Mexican cartel La Familia Michoacana, according to the Kenosha County Sheriff’s Office.
The ring operated across multiple states, stealing from high-end retailers including Lululemon, Victoria’s Secret, Nike, American Eagle, and more. Law enforcement traced their activities following a coordinated investigation involving Oak Brook Police, Homeland Security Investigations, ICE, and Kenosha County detectives.
In April, a traffic stop in Madison, Wisconsin, led to the seizure of about $21,000 worth of stolen merchandise from three suspects. Subsequent searches of an apartment and storage unit in Kenosha uncovered over $16,000 in stolen goods and tools linked to the thefts, with an estimated total of more than $120,000 recovered.
Four suspects—Fausto Javier Gonzalez Madrano, Manuel Perez Sanchez, Yareli Salas Ramirez, and Danna Paola Gomez—were released on bond and subsequently deported to Mexico by ICE. The remaining four remain in custody.
Authorities revealed that cartel members use sophisticated networks, including stash houses, vehicles, and fraudulent IDs, to facilitate thefts valued at over $100 million annually across the U.S.
