Nephtali Santiago-Garcia and Yuli “Nissy” Esther Degante Vigueras must have had a house that smelled pretty good recently. That’s because the couple had an estimated $355,000 worth of Bath & Body Works products stashed on their property.The two individuals involved weren’t just really (really) into candles and lotions, of course. They were part of an intricate theft operation, involving a Bath & Body Works delivery driver and an organized retail theft ring that was stealing merchandise to the couple to illegally resell.”Their living room was set up like a retail store,” the Phoenix Police shared in a news conference. “You were invited to shop around. When you made a purchase, they went so far as to wrap it up in a Bath & Body Works paper shopping bag just like you would have at a real store,” adding, “None of it was legitimate.”AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementHere’s how the theft ring operated, along with some advice for customers who want to avoid inadvertently participating in a similar illegal scheme.Don’t missLarge-scale retail theft ringPolice came across Santiago-Garcia and Degante-Vigueras after a long investigation that began in 2023, following a tip from a loss prevention department at an Arizona Bath & Body Works. According to that tip, criminals were coming into their store and clearing out the shelves in a matter of a few minutes.”When it is scaring customers, employees are running for the back type of thing, you realize that this is a serious thing,” police officials said.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementIn total, criminals ended up stealing over $160,000 in merchandise from stores in Arizona, Texas and Nevada — and police found they were selling most of this stuff to the husband-and-wife team, who lived in Glendale.While the couple is accused of trafficking a large amount of their merchandise from the robbers, they also teamed up with Marcos Ortega-Hernandez, a delivery driver, who was paid more than $72,000 to provide the couple with products instead of delivering them to the stores where the items were intended to go.The couple set up a storefront in their living room and would hold garage sales every weekend, where he would have tables of stolen merchandise to sell and advertising on OfferUp, Facebook Marketplace and TikTok.Fortunately, police were able to unravel the scheme and arrest the couple, along w …
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