Rosemary V. Valencia, right, was charged Monday in Lewis County Superior Court for allegedly using three juveniles to help her steal more than $3,000 in merchandise from stores in the Centralia Outlet Mall.
A Tacoma woman was charged Monday with orchestrating a retail theft operation, including the use of three juveniles to steal $3,000 worth of items from several stores in the Centralia Factory Outlets.
Rosemary Valderas Valencia, 44, of Tacoma, was charged Monday in Lewis County Superior Court with two counts of second-degree organized retail theft.
Each count included four aggravating factors, which often allow judges to impose higher fines or sentences than the original charge alone.
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.
Other 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.
Valencia was granted $10,000 bail Monday, which she posted. Her next hearing is scheduled for Oct. 22.
On Friday, the Centralia Police Department responded to the Centralia Factory Outlets after receiving reports of a group of people stealing merchandise by grabbing stacks of clothing and running out the door.
An officer contacted three juveniles who matched the thieves’ description and arrested them, according to court documents.
The juveniles — two boys and a girl — were “vague or evasive” with officers, according to a probable cause report, and two treated the arrest as a joke. One of the juveniles was later identified as Valencia’s son.
Witnesses associated the juveniles with a dark green Chevrolet Tahoe in the parking lot, registered to Valencia, according to court documents.
Officers obtained a search warrant for the car and reportedly found $3,034 in stolen merchandise from Aeropostale, Claire’s, Hanes, UnderArmour, The Children’s Place, New Balance and Nike.
Officers reportedly also recovered latex gloves, foil-lined bags that block signals from some anti-theft devices, also known as booster bags, and hand-written shopping lists.
Valencia allegedly went in some of the stores with the juveniles. Officers found her in the vicinity of the mall and arrested her.
According to court documents, Valencia told officers she came to Centralia with the juveniles specifically to shoplift from the stores, telling officers this is how she makes money. She reportedly said she didn’t ask the juveniles to help her, and said they just like stealing.
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, second-degree organized retail theft in 2011, aggravated first-degree theft in 2008, shoplifting in 1994 and 2006, first-degree criminal trespassing in 2005, giving false information in 1997, forgery in 1991, probation violations in 1993 and 1997 and first-degree failure to appear in 1990.
