Posted on 10/19/2002 5:59:04 AM PDT by petuniasevan
Posted Oct. 18, 2002
Alleged disc thieves ’round at a bad time
Brothers arrived at Appleton shop probed by police
By John Lee
Post-Crescent staff writer
APPLETON — Sometimes, when you least expect it, it drops into your hands.
Appleton police officers executing a search warrant at a DVD-CD resale shop Thursday morning had to interrupt their inventory when two men came in with a truck full of DVDs that allegedly were stolen from area Wal-Mart stores.
By the time Disc Go Round would normally close in the evening, police had identified and hauled out about 15 boxes of DVDs and CDs, plus four plastic barrels of other DVDs from the men’s van.
Brothers Geoffrey S. Chapman, 38, who lists addresses in Appleton and Oshkosh, and Michael S. Chapman, who turns 33 Saturday and lists addresses in Appleton and New London, were in jail.
Police said charges are pending against the store’s owner, Anthony Kramer, 45, 2012 W. Seneca Drive. The store is located at 621 W. Northland Ave.
Sgt. Cary Meyer said an exact inventory will be done, but by late Thursday police spokesman John DeLong said thousands of discs had been recovered.
DeLong said police had been on the case for a few weeks, spurred largely by shoplifting complaints from Wal-Mart.
“The first place you are going to look for (stolen) DVDs is places that sell them,” he said.
He said the Chapmans were suspects. When they drove up while police were at the store, they were taken into custody and their vehicle impounded.
Police said it seems so far that all DVDs and CDs were taken from Wal-Mart stores, including the ones at 955 Mutual Way and 3701 E. Calumet St.
“When they finish the search warrant we may find they’ve been getting them from other places, but right now we know about Wal-Marts – our two and others around the state,” DeLong said.
Meyer said officers believe the brothers were only selling the DVDs and CDs to Disc Go Round.
As officers searched the store Thursday evening, a closed for inventory sign hung on the door. The brothers were being held in the Outagamie County Jail on outstanding warrants.
Here's a followup story:
Police: CD thefts are widespread
By Dan Wilson
Post-Crescent staff writer
APPLETON — Authorities have upped their value estimate of stolen CDs and DVDs from area Wal-Mart stores to $250,000 in what is believed to have been a five-state criminal enterprise.
Brothers Michael S. Chapman, 33, Oshkosh, and Geoffrey S. Chapman, 38, New London, were placed under a $75,000 cash bond Friday by Outagamie County Court Commissioner Brian Figy.
The Chapmans were taken into custody Thursday when a search warrant was executed at Disc-Go-Round, a DVD-CD resale shop at 621 W. Northland Ave. in Appleton, and turned up hundreds of stolen CDs and DVDs.
Each is charged with two counts of felony theft.
Assistant Dist. Atty. John Daniels said Friday the discs seized Thursday, which were taken from Wal-Mart stores in Wisconsin, represent only part of what was an ongoing enterprise for the past two or three years.
“This overall conspiracy is very large,” Daniels said. “It spans several states, including Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota and Iowa, with thefts of CDs and DVDs in excess of a quarter of a million dollars. It was a quite sophisticated scam in which they took 100 to 150 or more CDs at a single time.”
Daniels said the Chapmans worked in concert by going into a Wal-Mart store and loading up a plastic bin with CDs from the house wares department. One of the brothers would then purchase a DVD and, instead of leaving the store, he would return to the department and exchange it for an identical DVD that had not had its anti-theft device deactivated.
He then would purposely set off the alarm when exiting the store. While the alarm was sounding and he was showing his receipt for the DVD to store personnel, his brother would take advantage of the distraction and shove a cart containing the bin full of DVDs out of the door.
“We have several other counties lining up to file charges as well,” Daniels said.
The Northland Avenue store, owned by Anthony Kramer, 45, 2012 W. Seneca Drive, Appleton, had been purchasing the DVDs and CDs from the brothers.
No charges have been filed against any store personnel.
Daniels said 80 to 90 percent of the inventory in the store was stolen items.
According to the criminal complaint, Kramer told police he would buy a plastic bin full of discs on a regular basis from the Chapmans. Each bin held about 150 CDs and DVDs, and he allegedly showed investigators 51 empty bins left behind from previous purchases.
Daniels said the investigation “is getting bigger as we turn around.”
Both brothers have extensive criminal histories. Michael Chapman had outstanding warrants in three area counties at the time of his arrest.
Geoffrey Chapman was wanted for jumping bail on an unspecified charge in Maryland.
“It is fair to say Mr. Chapman (Michael) was involved in a sophisticated scam operation that was spread over several counties and perhaps several states,” Figy said.
Figy scheduled further proceedings for Michael Chapman for Oct. 25. A preliminary hearing date for Geoffrey Chapman is pending.
Looks like these two bozos got careless. Now they should be made to work off their debt. Chain gang would be nice. Stocks in front of the east Appleton Wal-Mart would be even nicer.
I am a greeter at a Wal-Mart, and we must pay attention to such details, and more. There is a way to handle a situation like that without "rocking the boat," but it takes experience and cooperation with management.
The trick of filling up plastic bins with stolen items is an old one, and like the story says, this is usually done in pairs. We are supposed to check inside each bin. The customers know this and keep the lids open or off. It's those who keep the lids on or closed that we check inside. Coolers and ice chests are also used.
Did you know that retail loss from shrink and employee theft exceeds thirty billion dollars annually? That's a lot of dollars we, the honest folk have to absorbe.
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