KLAS: Las Vegas ranks 6th in retail crime, lawmakers and retailers fight back
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — The National Retail Federation ranked Las Vegas as the sixth hardest hit city in the U.S. for retail crime in 2025.
Now, lawmakers and business leaders are teaming up to crack down.
“Las Vegas now ranks alongside major national organized retail crime hotspots, such as Philadelphia and the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area,” Nevada Organized Retail Crime Association’s (NVORCA) Mike Rosa said.
During a Monday news conference, business leaders and lawmakers focused specifically on organized retail crime, saying it continues to grow and is much more sophisticated than petty theft. Additionally, they claim it crosses state lines.
“It’s not one or two,” JCPenney Store General Manager Brenda Almanza explained. “It’s clearing shelves or racks of merchandise, and they are very aggressive.”
JCPenney is one of a handful of retailers under Catalyst Brands, next to Aeropostale, Lucky Brands, and others.
Catalyst Brands Chief Operating Officer Kevin Harpe explained that the company had already made changes in its stores that customers may have already noticed to combat the trend.
“We put big cables on all of our spinner racks of jewelry, shatterproof glass in the jewelry department,” said Harpe. “The list just kind of goes on and on.”
Nevada Democratic Congresswoman Susie Lee said the cost is already being felt across the state.
“In our state of Nevada, we’ve lost $85 million in tax revenues,” said Congresswoman Lee. “Guess who pays those? We all do.”
The Congresswoman hopes to address the issue at a root level; her solution is listing this as a federal crime, which would allow law enforcement to confiscate the stolen merchandise.
“If California increases its monitoring and prosecution, the criminals are just going to come to Nevada,” Lee told 8 News Now.
The Congresswoman’s bipartisan “Combating Organized Retail Crime Act” was passed by the House Judiciary Committee unanimously earlier this year. It is now advancing through the Senate.