Farmington Hills, MI - On Wednesday, October 18, 2023, Brian Roussey, 31, of Farmington Hills, was sentenced to 128 days incarceration and two years probation for three counts of Organized Retail Fraud by Judge Cheryl Matthews in the 6th Circuit Court in Oakland, announced Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel.
In September, Roussey pled guilty to three counts for operating a theft and resale scheme of KitchenAid brand stand mixers from metro Detroit Target stores. He was additionally ordered to pay $20,108 in restitution to retailer Target.
Roussey began stealing KitchenAid mixers in late 2020 and continued through late 2022, entering various Target locations throughout the metro Detroit area, walking out with the product without making a purchase, and selling the stolen appliances on public online forums such as Facebook Marketplace. The stand mixers retail for as much as $500 per unit and losses from Target total in excess of $20,000.
The case against Roussey was handled by the Attorney General’s newly established Organized Retail Crime (ORC) Unit operating with Michigan State Police as the FORCE Team, and the Farmington Hills Police Department.
“Our FORCE Team works in concert with retailers, in this instance Target, to stop these theft-and-resale schemes that cost Michigan businesses and consumers millions of dollars every year,” said Nessel. “That partnership is critical to our work against organized retail fraud, and here it put an end to a two-year crime spree.”
The ‘FORCE’ Team and the Organized Retail Crime Unit were established in January by the Attorney General to target criminal organizations that steal products from retailers to repackage and sell for a profit. Two assistant attorneys general serve the unit full time, working with special agents within the Department of Attorney General and Michigan State Police detectives to investigate and prosecute these crimes. This is a first-in-the-nation unit, unique in the 50 states as being the first such unit with embedded, dedicated staff from the Department of Attorney General.
The FORCE Team is dedicated to working collaboratively with retailers and local law enforcement agencies to combat organized retail crime. Recent corporate partners on investigations have included Sam’s Club/Walmart, Meijer, Target, Home Depot, TJ Maxx, Rite-Aid, Lululemon, Ulta, and Lowe’s. The team’s first major investigation produced charges against seven individuals earlier this year. Local law enforcement agencies or retailers with evidence of organized retail fraud are encouraged to