BROWARD COUNTY, Fla. – Seven Broward County pawn shop employees were arrested Tuesday for allegedly being parted of an organized retail crime ring, the Broward Sheriff’s Office announced.
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According to BSO, the multi-year racketeering operation led to the loss of millions of dollars for various national retailers, such as CVS, Walgreens, Home Depot, Publix and Walmart, among others.
“According to detectives, employees of U.S. Pawn paid for stolen merchandise brought to them by thieves or boosters,” BSO spokesman Carey Codd said in a news release. “The items included over-the-counter medications, health and beauty products, tools and electronics, many of which were still sealed in boxes and stolen from well-known stores. The items were then sold on e-commerce/online platforms.”
According to Codd, the investigation began in 2022, and in December 2023, detectives “served search warrants on U.S. Pawn locations in Hollywood – a storefront and a warehouse located at 5450 South State Road 7.”
“Detectives seized more than 50 pallets of stolen merchandise worth more than $750,000,” Codd said. “On the same date, detectives also served search warrants at another U.S. Pawn location in Fort Lauderdale at 400 W. Sunrise Blvd. Detectives said the organized retail theft was so prolific that some of the boosters would conduct multiple transactions of stolen items on the same day.”
Authorities said the operation was coordinated by U.S. Pawn owner Igor Melomed, who enlisted lower level employees to assist him in the scheme.
Detectives said the retail thefts occurred throughout the state of Florida.
According to Codd, in addition to the seven employees arrested Tuesday, two other employees were previously arrested in the case.
Those arrested so far have been identified by BSO as:
- Igor Melomed, 46, (1 count of racketeering)
- Marie Turene, 34, (1 count of racketeering, 1 count of dealing in stolen property)
- William LaCroix, 58, (1 count of racketeering)
- Lyndon Johnson, 37, (1 count of racketeering, 3 counts of dealing in stolen property)
- Edward Ibragimov, 39, (1 count of racketeering)
- Kevin Gilyard, 37, (1 count of racketeering, 1 count of dealing stolen property)
- Luis Bustos Diaz, 36, (1 count of racketeering)
- Natalia Kudelina, 49, (1 count of dealing in stolen property)
- Natalia Khodyreva, 40, (2 counts of dealing in stolen property)
The investigation remains ongoing.