CENTENNIAL, Colo. — A video that shows three men shoplifting from a Centennial grocery store went so viral after being shared on social media that it's had millions of views – it was so popular that Snoop Dogg shared it with his 80 million Instagram followers.
The day after a man recorded three men shoplifting from the King Soopers at 5050 E. Arapahoe Road on June 18 around 6:40 p.m. and posted the video to social media, investigators discovered the video and began investigating the theft.
The Arapahoe County Sheriff said they took as much as $500 worth of soap. They also say it's not uncommon.
The investigators in the case weren't available to talk, but the sheriff's office said the simplest explanation is that personal care items are expensive and sell pretty easily elsewhere.
Chris Howes with the Colorado Retail Council calls it Organized Retail Crime.
"Years ago, stolen goods would be taken out of the store and then brought to somebody who's called the fence where you could get easy cash, get some easy money for the stuff that you've stolen. And now, more and more, we've seen that that operation is now online," he said.
Organized Retail Crime is a targeted sweep by groups of people of small expensive items that are easy to sell for less elsewhere.
A quick search of Facebook Marketplace and OfferUp found pictures of tons of bottles of Tide Pods and boxes of dryer sheets alongside and invitation to reach out for pricing.
"When you're searching online, often very often, those products are have been stolen. So kind of, you know, buyer beware. Look out if you see a deal that's incredible to you, it's probably too good to be true," Howes warned.
He said this kind of retail theft is at a level the state's never seen before, and that it's costing Colorado stores an estimated one billion dollars a year.
For people at home, that means price increases on items. For cities, it means a loss of tax revenue. For stores, it's conversations about the future.
"We don't want to take drastic action that we've seen on the west coast where some stores have had to lock up literally everything in the store," Howes said.
The state legislature passed a bill last year that requires online marketplaces, like Facebook Marketplace, to collect more information about the people selling a lot of products on their site.
Yet, the reselling continues, and it's not just laundry detergent. It's all the small stuff you use for personal care, like razor blade refills and over the counter medication.
Investigators with the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office hope that someone who watched the video may recognize two men who have not yet been identified.
The third person shown shoplifting on tape is already in custody. He was arrested after investigators located him by looking up the registration of the car shown in the video.
The owner of the car told deputies he'd loaned it to a friend. Deputies tracked the driver of the trio, Jorge Pantoja, 32, and he was arrested and is in custody, charged with a class 2 misdemeanor.
The man filming the video begins recording as three men are seen running towards a car with a grocery cart full of items, including $400-$500 worth of laundry detergent, after exiting the store. The men can be seen pushing the cart towards a black Chevy and begin loading the car with groceries from the cart.
The man recording approaches the men as they continue to shove items into the car and says, "Really, bro? You gotta resort to this? The economy's not that bad." There is no reply from any of the men involved as they continue to put items in the car and begin to shut all the doors and back trunk hatch.
The men start driving away as one man is still trying to get inside the car — the driver has to slow down to let him jump in.
As the man recording gets closer to the back of the car, the video shows there is aluminum foil over the back license plate to hide the numbers. The man filming reaches out and pulls off the foil to reveal the license plate number. The three men then speed away from the grocery store parking lot.
After Pantoja was arrested, he told deputies he picked up two other men at the light rail station at Interstate 25 and Belleview Avenue and made them an offer to make some money. The men told the driver their names were Robert and Bugsy.
Investigators still need help from the public to identify the other two men in the video. The man who goes by Robert has dark brown hair and a mustache and wears glasses.
The other man who said his name was Bugsy is wearing a blue shirt with a Superman logo and a baseball cap.
If you can identify the other two men shown in the video, please contact the ACSO Investigations tip line at 720-874-8477 or email evancleave@arapahoegov.com.
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