Edmonton - Airdrie rural, St. Albert, Grande Prairie, Red Deer, and Fort McMurray detachments participated in a national retail crime blitz in partnership with the Retail Council of Canada. In total, 51 arrests were made, with 27 (53%) being repeated offenders. Additionally, 11 arrest warrants were executed.

The results from the retail crime blitz suggest that a large portion of retail crime is perpetrated by recidivist criminals and crime groups willing to commit violent acts. Below is a selection of the offenders:

• Offender One: This 52-year-old resident of Edmonton was apprehended after stealing a power tool in St. Albert. In 2025, he has been charged on over eight occasions for retail-related crimes, with a value of stolen items totalling $11,258.99.  Since 2006, he has 48 convictions, 27 of which are theft related. He was charged with one count of theft and one count of failing to comply with a probation order.

• Offender Two: This 41-year-old resident of Red Deer was apprehended after stealing two electronic items and assaulting the store’s Loss Prevention Officer (LPO). Red Deer RCMP arrested the offender, recovering crystal meth and fentanyl, along with the stolen items. He was charged with robbery and two counts of possession of a controlled substance.

• Offender Three: This 46-year-old resident of Red Deer was arrested after stealing numerous tools and assaulting the store’s LPO. He has 32 convictions on his criminal record dating back to 1997.

• Offender Four: This 43-year-old resident of Wood Buffalo was arrested after stealing a bottle of liquor. He has been charged eight times this year with a variety of offences, was charged twice in 2024 for robbing liquor stores, and has 176 convictions on his criminal record dating back to 1996. 

• Offender Five: This 38-year-old resident of Grande Prairie stole several items and evaded capture from the LPO. In 2025, she has been charged seven times with retail-related offence valuing over $7,500. She has 40 convictions dating back to 2006. A warrant has been issued for her arrest.

• Offender Six: This 48-year-old resident of Calgary was arrested after stealing $1,040 worth of clothing at a mall in rural Airdrie. The offender’s car had a stolen licence plate. She was arrested and found to be on a Conditional Sentence order for house arrest.

“Retail Council of Canada and its members appreciate and thank RCMP for making retail crime a priority and collaborating with the retailers on targeted enforcement projects to disrupt repeat prolific offenders and organized retail crime groups,” says Rui Rodrigues, Retail Council of Canada.

“Retailers across the province are seeing increased violence and huge costs related to shoplifting, which ultimately get passed on to law abiding citizens” says S/Sgt Luke Halvorson, Community Safety and Wellbeing Branch. “This retail crime blitz was a snapshot of what’s happening out in the community, in which recidivist criminals and crime groups are often behind this type of crime.”

Note: To remain consistent and to provide their criminal history, as per privacy laws we will not be providing individual names of the accused.