Flash Mob Robbery Strikes Two Small Businesses In REO Town

When you own and operate a business that sells merchandise, the sad fact of the matter is that you usually have to figure that some theft occurs.

Some people might have some sticky fingers here or there, but the hope is that those little things will not affect the bottom line.

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Sadly, when you're the victim of a coordinated robbery, that's a whole other story. And unfortunately, that's what happened to two stores in REO Town.

Thieves Target REO Town Small Businesses in Coordinated Robbery

Deadtime Stories shared on their social media a couple of days ago that they had been the victim of this attack. However, it was done in such a way that the store's owner, Jenn Carpenter, didn't know what had happened until a different business owner called her telling her to check her store footage because they had just been a victim of the same thieves.

Deadtime Stories and Vintage Junkies in REO Town were victims of a "flash mob robbery". A van pulled up and dropped off a group of teens in front of the store. All of the kids were wearing backpacks and entered Deadtime Stories. At which point, at least one or two kids kept the owner busy, while the rest proceeded to stuff their backpacks full of merchandise.

At the end of this series of events, this group of teens stole approximately $1,300 from Deadtime Stories and $700 from Vintage Junkies.

It's because of this incident that the owner of Deadtime Stories has updated her shopping policy to enforce that minors must be accompanied by an adult guardian of some kind and that no bags be allowed into the store.

The teens have been identified, and Carpenter is just waiting on word from the police, at this time.