The suspects would buy items at Marshall’s and T.J. Maxx stores in the area, and then place the store’s price tags onto lesser-valued items, according to police reports. Another member of the four-person group would then return the item at a different location of the same chain and keep the cash, police say. Investigators believe that the group made 1,298 returns with a total value of more than $126,000, according to police reports.
Larisa Lein, 52, of Trumbull was linked to six of the returns involving stores in Fairfield, police say. She was arrested on a warrant Friday morning. Lein was charged with third-degree larceny, a felony. She was released after posting a $7,500 bond, and is due in court Feb. 1.
Fairfield police charged a Weston woman for her involvement in a similar scam at the same chain late last year, according to arrest reports. Investigators have not yet found a connection between these incidents, but the cases still being investigated, police say.
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