Charges: East Coast couple arrested in Minnesota, part of ring that took Lululemon for $1M in thefts

An East Coast couple has been arrested and charged in Ramsey County with being part of a theft operation suspected of stealing roughly $1 million in goods across several states from the high-end women’s athletic wear retailer Lululemon.

Jadion Anthony Richards, 44, and Akwele Nickeisha Lawes-Richards, 45, both of Danbury, Conn., were charged Friday in Ramsey County District Court with organized retail theft in connection with crimes that spanned more than two months until their arrests Thursday.

Both appeared in court Monday and remain jailed ahead of hearings scheduled for Dec. 16. Richards’ bail was set at $100,000 and Lawes-Richards’ at $30,000. Attorneys for each defendant were not immediately available to respond to the allegations.

The County Attorney’s Office said this the first case it has prosecuted under a state statute enacted into law in May 2023 that is aimed at addressing organized retail theft.

In a nod to the work of the Roseville Police Department and its new retail crime unit, as well as other law enforcement agencies, “these individuals accused of this massive retail theft operation have been caught,” read a statement from Dennis Gerhardstein, spokesman for the County Attorney’s Office. “We will do everything in our power to hold these defendants accountable, and continue to work with our law enforcement partners and retail merchants to put a stop to retail theft in our community.”

According to the charges:

A retail crime investigator learned from police in Roseville that Richards, Lawes-Richards and an unidentified accomplice stole 45 items worth nearly $5,000 on Wednesday from the Lulelemon in Rosedale Center.

Police in Woodbury caught up to Lawes-Richards and Richards at the Lululemon in Woodbury and arrested them. Richards declined to speak with law enforcement, and Lawes-Richards denied stealing anything from the Lulelemon in Rosedale Center.

A police search of a Bloomington hotel room where the couple had been staying turned up 12 suitcases with $50,000 worth of Lululemon attire, with price tags still attached.

The Lululemon investigator said Richards and Lawes-Richards began stealing in Minnesota from the retailer in September, hitting stores in Edina, Minneapolis and Minnetonka. The investigator also tied Richards and Lawes-Richards to similar thefts in Colorado, Utah, Connecticut and New York state.

The total cost to Lululemon for the crimes of Richards, Lawes-Richards and others in their ring “so far is closer to $1 million,” the charges read.

In August, two Crystal women were charged in Hennepin County District Court with orchestrating thousands of dollars worth of thefts over several months from a Lululemon store in Minneapolis before moving the stolen goods through a nail salon and selling the items.

The charges in both investigations do not indicate whether the defendants in Hennepin County were working in concert with Richards and Lawes-Richards.