Connecticut Couple Charged in $1 Million Theft of Lululemon Goods

A Connecticut couple were charged with being part of an organized retail theft operation that is suspected of stealing about $1 million in Lululemon merchandise across several states, the authorities said.

The couple, Jadion Anthony Richards, 44, and Akwele Nickeisha Lawes-Richards, 45, of Danbury, Conn., were each charged with one felony count of organized retail theft this month in connection with crimes that began in September, according to the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office in Minnesota.

They were arrested at a Lululemon store in Woodbury, Minn., one day after they went to a Lululemon store in Roseville, Minn., where they and an unidentified man stole 45 items worth nearly $5,000, according to the charges.

An investigator for Lululemon, who is identified in court documents only by the initials R.P., said that the couple began by stealing from Minnesota stores in Edina, Minneapolis and Minnetonka.

The investigator said that the couple had also hit Lululemon stores in Connecticut, Colorado, New York and Utah.

After their arrest, the police searched a hotel room in Bloomington, Minn., where the couple had been staying, and found a dozen suitcases with $50,000 worth of Lululemon attire, with price tags still attached, according to court records.