Maryland legislators want their state to be the latest to raise the stakes associated with retail theft.
Members of the state assembly and state Senate have proposed identical bills in an effort to get the Organized Retail Theft Act of 2025 over the finish line.
Last year, the assembly passed a bill with the same language; however, it got held up in the state Senate and ultimately died when the 2024 session concluded. The bill provides that “multiple thefts committed by the same person in multiple counties under one scheme or continuing course of conduct may be joined and prosecuted in any county in which any one of the thefts occurred.”
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Delegate Karen Toles re-introduced the bill in the assembly this month, with co-sponsorship from delegates Robin Grammer, Wayne Hartman and Chao Wu. The bill would allow multiple instances of retail theft committed inside a 90-day window—whether at one store or at different stores throughout the state—to be prosecuted as one crime.
The bill would allow the value of goods stolen on different instances to be aggregated. That’s significant because it means that goods stolen on multiple occasions can compound and result in a felony charge, even if each individual instance would otherwise result in a misdemeanor charge.
Those convicted of organized retail theft of property with an aggregate value between $1,500 and $25,000 would face up to five years in prison and up to a $10,000 fine; if the aggregate amount falls between $25,000 and $100,000, individuals convicted could see up to 10 years in prison or and a fine of no more than $15,000. In cases where the aggregate value of stolen property exceeds $100,000, convicted individuals could be subject to imprisonment for up to 20 years and a fine of up to $25,000. In all cases, the perpetrators would be expected to “restore the property taken to the owner or pay the owner the value of the property or services.”
Toles said retail theft needs to be a priority for the state in 2025.
“We have a serious issue, not just in Maryland but nationally, with organized retail theft. We need to have a tool that will allow jurisdictions to aggregate the charges. When you have organized retail theft, perpetrators go from county to county staying just below the threshold of felony theft and target a variety of stores,” the delegate told Sourcing Journal.
Toles said retail theft places a burden on shoppers in the state, who then have to compensate for businesses and retailers’ losses.
“Our communities should be able to thrive,” she said at a bill hearing on Jan. 21. “We need the money in our state, and theft impacts businesses, owners, shoppers—everyone. Many constituents have expressed concerns about this, so we need this tool to hold perpetrators accountable.”
Jason Shoemaker, who heads up the economic unit for Frederick County, Md.’s state attorney’s office, attended the hearing to show his office’s support for the bill. Perry Paylor, deputy state’s attorney for the Prince George’s County, Md., office and Cailey Locklair, president of the Maryland Retailers Alliance, also joined to share their support.
Shoemaker said organized retail crime remains a major problem for prosecutors across the state.
“Organized retail theft is not committed to meet a need; it’s not merely opportunistic. It’s planned and repeatedly engaged in with the intention of stealing items to be returned or resold, enabling the culprits to make 100 percent [profit],” Shoemaker said at the hearing, later noting that crimesters could be entering Maryland from other states on the East Coast with the intention of making the state’s businesses and retailers a target.
“They’re coming into our communities and they are harming our retailers,” Shoemaker told the committee.
Shoemaker said that, should the bill become law, it would make it more feasible for counties’ attorneys to prosecute against retail crimesters; today, many crimes go unprosecuted because of a lack of resources and a legal loophole that allows theft crimes committed in different jurisdictions to be tried separately—often as misdemeanors.
“Hopefully, a few successful consolidated prosecutions will reduce Maryland retailers from being the targets of these types of offenders,” he said.
Toles said, today, in the absence of legislation that recognizes and reprimands retail crime patterns, the state’s economy is losing valuable businesses—and, consequently, consumer dollars. That’s because, on occasions when retailers close stores in Maryland, many consumers are able to drive into nearby Virginia or Washington, D.C. to shop, fueling other economies rather than their home state’s.
“We are losing resources and businesses and money in the state,” Toles said. “I want to spend my money in Maryland.”
