Mission
Working together to develop new and innovative ways to combat Organized Retail Crime and other crimes impacting the business community.
History of Cal-ORCA
Founded in 2012, The California Organized Retail Crimes Association (CAL-ORCA) is an organization dedicated to fostering partnerships between law enforcement professionals and loss prevention professionals to provide training, combat Organized Retail Crime (ORC) and other crimes impacting the business community. Read more.
ORC is defined as the Theft/Fraud activity conducted with the intent to convert illegally obtained merchandise, cargo, cash, or cash equivalent into financial gain (no personal use), where/when the following elements are present:
Theft/Fraud is conducted:
- over multiple occurrences
- and/or in multiple stores
- and/or in multiple jurisdictions
- by two or more persons, or an individual acting in dual roles (booster & fence)
Groups, gangs, and sometimes individuals are engaged in illegally obtaining merchandise through both theft and fraud in substantial quantities as part of a criminal enterprise. These crime rings generally consist of "boosters" - who methodically steal merchandise from retail stores - and fence operators who convert the product to cash or drugs as part of the criminal enterprise. Sophisticated criminals have even found ways to switch UPC bar codes on merchandise, so they ring up differently at checkout, commonly called “ticket switching.” Others use stolen or cloned credit cards to obtain merchandise or produce fictitious receipts to return products back to retail stores.
Precise measurements of the true scope of this problem is difficult to determine given the inherently secretive nature of these criminal operators. It is estimated that ORC costs retailers in excess of $700,000.00 per $1 Billion in sales.
In many instances, organized retail crime groups target several retailers in one day moving from state to state stealing and reselling the merchandise. These groups often steal thousands of dollars worth of merchandise at a time with the intent to resell it for profit, buy drugs, or fund terrorist/illicit activities.
Source: National Retail Federation (NRF)
- To stop or disrupt illicit ORC networks from committing crimes
- To develop new and innovative ways to combat property related crimes
- To educate the public on the problems associated with crime
- To utilize advanced technology to enhance the sharing of information to members
- To conduct training conferences and symposiums to educate law enforcement and the private sector regarding current and emerging crime trends
- To encourage members to meet regularly to share high-level intelligence with one another
- To unite businesses, city officials, and law enforcement in a plan to reduce crime and build awareness, in order to create safer areas to live, work, and shop
- To encourage retail competitors to collaborate with law enforcement to resolve ORC and other criminal investigations
The California Organized Retail Crime Association (Cal-ORCA) was formed to combat Organized Retail Crime (ORC) in the state. ORC is a growing problem not only for businesses but for California communities. ORC fosters a host of illegal activity, including the recruitment of youth, homeless and others into theft crimes. These networks frequently use their proceeds to finance other illegal activity including drug smuggling and human trafficking.
ORC involves theft or fraudulent activity conducted with the intent to convert illegally obtained goods into financial gain. Typically, ORC networks organize multiple theft rings at a number of retail businesses and employ a “fencing” operation to sell the illegally obtained goods. The digital revolution and subsequent growth in online shopping and social networking, along with increasingly lax enforcement of property crimes, have exacerbated large scale criminal theft, contributed to significant business losses for large and small retailers and greatly impacted the industry’s ability to provide jobs and keep their doors open to serve their communities.
ORC is on the rise nationwide, but California is recognized as a “hot spot” for these activities. Now more than ever, we need enforcement tools to fight back against these increasingly sophisticated, complex criminal networks.
General Qualification for Membership
- Applicant must be of legal age in the State of California.
- Applicant must not have a criminal record of an adult felony conviction or its equivalent in a legal jurisdiction nor an outstanding felony or equivalent criminal charge from any law enforcement agency of any jurisdiction.
- Having met all other qualifications, no applicant will be denied membership because of sex, color, race, religion, sexual orientation, or ethnic origin.
- Only individuals shall be eligible for membership.
- No applicant for membership may be admitted unless such applicant meets the requirements.
A person shall be eligible for membership if he/she is an employee of:
- The employee engaged in the prevention, detection, analysis, investigation, apprehension, education about or prosecution of retail, fraud, or other crimes at their company of employment, i.e. loss prevention, fraud investigator…
- Any subdivision of government law enforcement officers, prosecutors, or related public officials, who, within their agency or department, responsible or assisting in the investigation, investigative training, prevention, analysis, apprehension, and/or prosecution of retail or financial crimes.
- Any retired law enforcement personnel who honorably retired, in good standing with their Department, and actively providing their subject matter expertise to the Association are eligible.
- Important note: A Private Investigator (P.I.) and/or employees employed at a P.I. Firm are generally not eligible. Administrators will review each P.I. application for approval consideration on a case-by-case basis. The concern of individuals using the Association’s membership for soliciting work from members.
- A current verifiable Company or Department email address must be utilized to register. Personal email addresses will not be accepted.
- There is no cost to join and participate.
CAL-ORCA is a statewide crime-fighting partnership. This association allows retailers and law enforcement to communicate about criminal activity impacting businesses on a real-time basis while preventing other partners from being victimized
Apply to join Cal-ORCA
Board Members
Ron Foss
Ron Foss, LPC, CFI
Director, Asset Protection
Safeway NORCAL Division
Currently, Ron Foss directly oversees the NORCAL Asset Protection Department including AP Personnel, Case Management, Investigations and Organized Retail Crime. Ron has served as past Retail Co-Chair of Los Angeles Area Organized Retail Crime Association (LAAORCA) and was a founding member of LAAORCA. Ron is currently a long standing and current Executive Committee Member of CAL-ORCA. Ron also serves on the California Grocers Association Enterprise Risk Committee addressing Organized Retail Crime and has been actively involved in Organized Crime Investigations, Training and Law Enforcement Collaboration in an effort to enhance efforts addressing Organized Retail Crime, which is plaguing the industry and State.
Ron has a degree in Criminal Justice and is prior law enforcement professional.
Vacant
Vacant
Shane Bennett
Shane Bennett
Director - Field Investigations
Target
Ryan Allain
Ryan Allain
Director, Government Affairs
California Retailers Association
Ryan Allain was born and raised in Vacaville, California and moved to Sacramento to pursue a bachelor’s degree in Government/International Relations with a minor in Peace and Conflict Resolution at Sacramento State. While at Sacramento State, Ryan was heavily involved in student government, Greek life, and new student orientation. Additionally, Ryan participated in American Model U.N. representing South Africa on the Economic and Social Council earning a distinguished delegation award.
Prior to joining the CRA team, Ryan interned with the Chief Clerk’s office in the California State Assembly as served as the Assembly Floor Analysis intern. During the internship Ryan gained an understanding of how the legislature functioned, the ebb and flow of the legislative process, and homed in on his proofing and editing skills. In his free time Ryan enjoys traveling, riding his bike, reading, crosswords, and watching baseball (Go Yankees). In addition to enjoying Netflix or HBO, on any given Wednesday, Ryan may also be found watching Prime Ministers Questions.
Ben Dugan
Ben Dugan
Director, ORC & Corporate Investigations
CVS
Rory Stallard
Rory Stallard
Director of Loss Prevention - Organized Retail Crime
Ulta Beauty
Rory Stallard is the Director of Loss Prevention at Ulta Beauty where he leads the company’s Western Division internal theft and Organized Retail Crime (ORC) teams. Rory and his team, work side by side with local, state and federal law enforcement and prosecution agencies to investigate and resolve major crimes that affect Ulta Beauty, its customers and associates and surrounding communities. He has 28 years of Asset Protection experience and has been specializing in ORC for more than 25 years.
During his career, Rory has helped to expand or create ORC programs with three different major retailers. Rory helped to create the Georgia Retail Association Retail Crime Alliance and in 2015 and he was the recipient of the GRAORCA Partnership of the Year Award. Rory has testified for State Senate hearings in California, Georgia and Washington on the need for ORC legislation and has been involved with local and state ORC legislation efforts throughout the country. He has been a criminal justice consultant for the Georgia Board of Education and an advisor for several university criminal justice programs on the East and West Coast and recently was awarded the Distinguished Criminal Justice Professional Award by East Tennessee State University. Rory has spoken several times at the Federal Bureau of Investigations Hoover Building to help educate federal law enforcement on the impact of Organized Retail Crime. He has received a commendation letter from the Polk County Sheriff’s Office for developing ORC training for Florida based Law Enforcement agencies and has assisted the Loss Prevention Foundation in developing an ORC Certification Course for corporations. Currently, Rory sits on the Board for the Coalition of Law Enforcement and Retail (CLEAR) and is the Chairman of the National ORC Committee within CLEAR that focuses on Law Enforcement training.
Brent Cohen
Brent Cohen
Senior Program Manager, ORC Engagement Team
Amazon
Mark McDermott
Mark McDermott
Group Manager of Field Investigations
JCPenny
Presently, Mark is the Group Manager of Organized Retail Crime Investigations at JCPenney. Mark has spent 40 years in retail asset protection with several major retailers. Mark has held positions throughout the Asset Protection pyramid including Multi-Store, Corporate, and Investigative leadership positions.
Vacant
Vacant
Walgreens
Vacant
Vacant
Rite Aid
Justine Venezia
Justine Venezia
Director of Investigations
The Gap, Inc.
Justine Venezia is a seasoned leader with over 20 years of experience in the retail industry. She currently serves as Director of Investigations for Gap Inc., overseeing Internal and External/ORC investigations, as well as Investigative Systems & Tools. Under her leadership, the Investigations team has responsibility for the development of programs and platforms in support of Gap Inc. investigative efforts, with a focus on innovation and technology. In coordination with Legal, Justine also leads the governance efforts around Internal and External operations and investigations. She works closely with the Gap Inc. Government Affairs team and this partnership presents the opportunity to influence at the local and state level. She looks forward to helping to create a safer retail industry in California by bringing her own unique, diverse experience and perspective to the Cal-ORCA Board. Justine received her B.S. in Business Administration from the University of San Francisco and resides in San Mateo, California.
