I 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1173 
To amend title 18, United States Code, to combat, deter, and punish individ-
uals and enterprises engaged nationally and internationally in organized 
crime involving theft and interstate fencing of stolen retail merchandise, 
and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 25, 2009 
Mr. ELLSWORTH (for himself and Mr. JORDAN of Ohio) introduced the 
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 
A BILL 
To amend title 18, United States Code, to combat, deter, 
and punish individuals and enterprises engaged nation-
ally and internationally in organized crime involving theft 
and interstate fencing of stolen retail merchandise, and 
for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Organized Retail 
Crime Act of 2009’’. 
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SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND STATEMENT OF PURPOSE. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find-
ings: 
(1) Organized retail crime involving the obtain-
ing by fraud and theft of retail merchandise from 
entities engaged in interstate commerce is a nation-
wide problem of an increasing scale and is expected 
to cost American companies and consumers more 
than $30,000,000,000 annually. 
(2) The increasing losses by retailers as a result 
of organized retail crime make certain goods and 
products less available and accessible to American 
consumers. 
(3) The uncontrolled redistribution and unsafe 
storage of stolen and fraudulently obtained con-
sumer products such as baby formula, over-the- 
counter drugs, and other products by persons en-
gaged in such organized retail crime is a health and 
safety hazard to American consumers. 
(4) The unregulated black-market sales of such 
fraudulently obtained and stolen merchandise results 
in an estimated $1,600,000,000 annual loss in much 
needed sales and income tax revenues to State and 
local governments. 
(5) The illegal income from the expanding theft 
and resale of stolen retail goods is reasonably be-
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lieved to benefit persons and organizations engaged 
in other forms of criminal activity such as drug traf-
ficking, gang activity, and terrorism. 
(6) Organized retail crime rings often obtain re-
tail merchandise through the use of checks for which 
there are insufficient funds or that are forged or sto-
len, frequently returning the merchandise to fraudu-
lently obtain refunds. Such practices create major 
problems for the retail industry and the national 
banking system. 
(7) Organized retail crime rings are increas-
ingly using counterfeit, forged, misappropriated, and 
improperly transferred Universal Product Code la-
bels and other devices employed to identify articles 
for sale as a method for achieving their ends. 
(8) The dramatic growth of organized retail 
crime and the unfettered resale of such stolen and 
fraudulently obtained goods in national and inter-
national Internet-based marketplaces has resulted in 
effective evasion by such resellers of State and local 
regulations on secondhand goods and article resellers 
which had traditionally been used to control the pos-
session, resale, and transfer of stolen goods. 
(9) The unrestricted expansion of anonymous 
Internet-based marketplaces for stolen and fraudu-
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lently obtained goods has resulted in a dramatic in-
crease in the deployment of organized retail crime 
rings seeking to sell stolen goods in Internet-based 
marketplaces. 
(10) Conduct constituting organized retail 
crime and conduct facilitating organized retail crime 
both substantially affect interstate commerce. 
(b) STATEMENT OF PURPOSE.—In light of the above 
findings, the purposes of this Act are as follows: 
(1) To protect consumers, retailers, the national 
banking system, and State and local governments 
from the more than $30,000,000,000 annual prob-
lem of organized retail crime as well as the related 
adverse health and safety risks it creates. 
(2) To continue to allow legitimate transactions 
to occur on online marketplaces while addressing the 
growing problem of fencing stolen merchandise over 
the Internet (‘‘e-fencing’’) that facilitates organized 
retail crime. 
SEC. 3. ORGANIZED RETAIL CRIME. 
(a) DEFINITIONS.—Section 2311 of title 18, United 
States Code, is amended— 
(1) by inserting after the fifth paragraph (relat-
ing to the definition of ‘‘motor vehicle’’) the fol-
lowing: 
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