At a Target in Las Vegas, the store’s approach to shoplifting has caused one former employee to speak out.
Isaiah Arellano, a former Target employee who worked at a North Dakota Target location in 2016, and transferred to a Las Vegas location in 2018, recently went viral on TikTok for his video explaining how Target addresses its shoplifters.
“They will continue letting you steal, all the while they’re documenting the value amount of every single item that you are stealing,” said Arellano in the video. “They will wait until it reaches or exceeds the amount that makes it grand theft larceny, which is an actual felony.”
The parameters that classify the degree of a theft charge vary across different states. For example, in Nevada, the stolen property must exceed $1,200 in value for the charge to go from misdemeanor to felony. In general, to be charged with grand theft or larceny, a person must be suspected of stealing more than what would constitute a charge of petty theft, a more minor theft charge with less serious repercussions.
Arellano’s video was a response to another TikTok from influencer Dessy Joseph. In her original video, Joseph described Target’s policy of monitoring repeat shoplifters and waiting for them to accumulate a higher value of stolen merchandise before taking action against them. In Arellano’s video, he says, “She is 100% telling the truth.” His TikTok has racked up more than 8 million views since it was posted on November 27. Arellano has over 28,000 followers.
Arrellano told Business Insider he felt confident speaking out about this after working in two different Target locations and seeing how they operated. “If we saw somebody acting suspicious, it wasn’t up to us to confront them,” he said.
In a statement to Business Insider, a Target spokesperson said the company does not “bundle” charges until they reach a felony-level and would not provide details about the company’s procedures for handling theft. “We don’t have any policies in place to hold or bundle shoplifting charges until they reach a felony level,” a Target spokesperson said in a statement… Business Insider