Tacoma Woman Pleads Guilty in Centralia Retail Theft Operation

Posted

A Tacoma woman accused of orchestrating an organized retail theft operation using three juveniles to steal items from stores in the Centralia Factory Outlets has pleaded guilty.

Rosemary Valderas Valencia, 44, of Tacoma, pleaded guilty Friday to three counts of second-degree organized retail theft.

Her sentencing is scheduled for 1 p.m. March 23.

On Oct. 9, the Centralia Police Department responded to the outlets after hearing reports of juveniles stealing stacks of clothing and running out the door.

Officers contacted the juveniles and arrested them. Witnesses associated the juveniles with a dark green Chevrolet Tahoe in the parking lot, registered to Valencia, according to court documents. Officers search the car and found merchandise from stores including Aeropostale, Hanes Outlet, Claire’s, Nike, Under Armour, New Balance and The Children’s Place, according to court documents.

The standard sentencing range for the conviction, based on Valencia’s past criminal history, is 14 to 18 months in prison.

However, the Lewis county Prosecutor’s Office is seeking an exceptional sentence of 29 months, or about 2 1/2 years in prison, based on several aggravating factors attached to the charges.

The first two aggravating factors to Valencia’s two charges allege that the standard sentence for the crimes she is charged with is too lenient, taking into account her previous criminal history.

The other two aggravating factors argue that Valencia used her position of trust to facilitate the commission of the offense, and that the offense involved a “destructive and foreseeable impact” on a party other than the victim.

According to Valencia’s statement on her guilty plea, filed with the court, she stated she does not agree with the aggravating factors, but wished to take responsibility for the crime, and was willing to plead guilty anyway.

Valencia and her attorney Shane O’Rourke are asking for a sentence of 16 months.

Valencia has previously been convicted in Washington and Oregon for second-degree theft in 1994, 2010 and 2013, for third-degree theft in 1992, 1993, 2004, 2005 and 2012, organized retail theft in the second degree in 2011, aggravated first-degree theft in 2008, shoplifting in 1994 and 2006, first-degree criminal trespass in 2005, giving false information in 1997, forgery in 1991, probation violation in 1993 and 1997 and first-degree failure to appear in 1990.