GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — Investigators say they have charged thieves who hit big box stores across the north side of metro Atlanta, leading to a massive RICO indictment into the multi-million dollar shoplifting and fencing operation.
Officials said the ring would go into stores to steal expensive Lego sets and other merchandise.
Gwinnett County District Attorney Patsy Austin-Gatson and her chief assistant, John Melvin, say the ring stole more than $3.6 million dollars in merchandise from a variety of stores over roughly four years.
“The shoplifters would steal high-value items that were easily shoplifted, then they’d take them to the ring leaders. Ring leaders would determine what they were running for on eBay and then split the profits with the people who brought them the merchandise,” Melvin told Channel 2 investigative reporter Mark Winne.
The indictment lists lots of retailer victims across northern metro Atlanta and items ranging from power tools from Home Depot, leaf blowers from Lowe’s, to a Gucci watch stolen from Kay Jewelers.
TRENDING STORIES:
- ‘It’s a baby’: Video of noisy child, customers arguing at north GA restaurant stirs up debate
- Woman in tactical gear waves gun at passing cars in Gwinnett County, police say
- Half a dozen Cobb businesses closed after device left charging sparks fire
“Power tools, blowers, anything that ran somewhere between a $200,000 ticket and then when you watch it, those things can be put on eBay at noon and sold by six o’clock that evening,” Melvin said.
The indictment says Supachok Sae-ly, Kannika Sae-ly, and Hugo Teng posted over 21,000 transactions through Kannika Sae-ly’s “superwoman12” eBay account involving stolen merchandise.
“Even people who are innocently purchasing items could end up with stolen goods,” Austin-Gatson said.
“What the indictment indicates is that at the home of Superchok, there was over $76,000 of merchandise taken from the retailers in Atlanta, and at the home of Hugo Tang, $24,000 worth of stolen merchandise was just sitting in the garage,” Melvin said.
A statement from a Home Depot spokesperson said:
“Organized retail crime is a serious issue for our communities. This is not theft for need, but theft for greed. Sophisticated criminal networks sell these stolen goods, often anonymously through online third-party platforms, to finance more serious criminal activities. We are grateful to our law enforcement partners and Chief Assistant District Attorney John Melvin for utilizing the tools available to them to bring these criminals to justice. We support further legislation like the Combatting Organized Retail Crime Act to protect our communities from this growing threat.”
“This is important because retailers are suffering to a great extent when we have people going into places where we shop daily and stealing at this level,” Austin-Gatson said.
Winne reached out to the attorneys believed to be associated with the suspects in the case to get their side of the story. He is still waiting to hear back from them. who
©2025 Cox Media Group
