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Shoplifting Ring Bust Surprises Business Neighbors

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By THOMAS W.  KRAUSE | The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 25, 2008

TAMPA Flanking the rear parking lot of a small shopping center near Busch Gardens, three small garages are rented to business owners who need a little extra storage space.

On Thursday, officers from several law enforcement agencies set up folding tables and opened laptops, taking inventory of items removed from the middle unit.

The renter, Theresa "Teri" Parrish, is in the Polk County Jail, held on $500,000 bond. Parrish, prosecutors say, helped to manage a ring of thieves whose crimes might extend from Central Florida into other parts of the country.

To employees of various businesses in the shopping center where 44-year-old Parrish rented space, she was a nice lady who sold cosmetics at flea markets and on the Internet.

In all Thursday, 16 people were arrested in three counties. Each is suspected of a role in a multimillion theft ring where "boosters," or shoplifters, stole cosmetics from Wal-Marts and grocery stores so the principals of the operation could resell them.

Two suspects remain at large: Rebecca Bradshaw, 30, and her boyfriend Timothy D. Griffin, 35, both of Lakeland.

The news of the bust was surprising to people who work near the little storage garage where police collected evidence Thursday.

Lisa Keeler, a paralegal for a personal injury law office in the shopping center, said she and others were curious at the flurry of police activity Thursday. Still, she said, it was hard to see what the fuss was about.

"They kept coming out with little bags," Keeler said. "We were so nosy. We kept wondering if they were going to find a body or something."

The landlord at the shopping center, Paul Fraleigh, said Parrish rented the unit about a year ago. She told him that she sold cosmetics on the Internet and at flea markets. She had stored the items at her home but it got too crowded.

"Everything she told me turned out to be true," he said. "She just didn't tell me the other part."

Cathy McKyton, with the Florida Statewide Prosecutor's Office, said she didn't want to comment on details that are not in public record.

She said she could confirm that the 16 people arrested Thursday all remained jailed today . The lowest bail was set at $20,000. The man considered to be the ringleader of the Central Florida operation, Steve Coburn, remained jailed in Seminole County on $1 million bail.

Coburn and Parrish, along with their spouses, are considered to be the principals. The remaining 13 people and the two with outstanding warrants acted as boosters, McKyton said.

All the boosters had previous criminal records on charges ranging from drug possession and writing bad checks to grand theft and battery. The Parrishes and the Coburns had no prior criminal records.

"What we don't know is where it went after Coburn," she said. "We think that it went higher, that he is not the top dog. We are still investigating."

McKyton said law enforcement agencies nationwide are only recently catching on to organized shoplifting groups.

Reporter Thomas W. Krause can be reached at (813) 259-7698 or tkrause@tampatrib.com.

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