I 
119TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2853 
To combat organized crime involving the illegal acquisition of retail goods 
and cargo for the purpose of selling those illegally obtained goods through 
physical and online retail marketplaces. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 10, 2025 
Mr. JOYCE of Ohio (for himself, Ms. LEE of Nevada, Mr. VALADAO, Ms. 
TITUS, Mr. BAUMGARTNER, Mr. SCHNEIDER, Ms. LEE of Florida, Mr. 
CORREA, Mr. KNOTT, Mr. NEGUSE, Mr. LALOTA, Mr. MORELLE, Mr. 
AMODEI of Nevada, Mr. CARBAJAL, Mr. CISCOMANI, Mr. CUELLAR, Mr. 
NEHLS, Mr. COSTA, Ms. MALLIOTAKIS, and Mr. PANETTA) introduced 
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 
A BILL 
To combat organized crime involving the illegal acquisition 
of retail goods and cargo for the purpose of selling 
those illegally obtained goods through physical and online 
retail marketplaces. 
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 ‘‘Combating Organized 
Retail Crime Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
It is the sense of Congress that— 
(1) organized theft groups, involving sophisti-
cated and structured groups of individuals, continue 
to increase criminal activities carried out by the 
groups against the retail industry and the supply 
chain of the Nation. These activities, at unprece-
dented levels, involve theft and fraud of both phys-
ical and digital goods, leading to escalating financial 
losses and violence in the workplace—all impacting 
the national economy and security of the United 
States; 
(2) retailers face mounting thefts and fraud be-
cause of organized retail crime in and around stores, 
online, and throughout the retail ecosystem. Accord-
ing to the National Retail Federation, larceny inci-
dents increased by 93 percent in 2023 compared to 
2019, with a 90 percent rise in average dollar loss. 
These thefts are often orchestrated by organized 
theft groups reselling and redistributing the stolen 
goods back into the economy of the United States or 
overseas to gain illicit profit and to finance other 
criminal activity. More than 84 percent of retailers 
report that violence and aggression from these crimi-
nal activities has become more of a concern since 
2022, resulting in injuries and deaths among em-
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ployees, customers, security officers, and law en-
forcement personnel; 
(3) product manufacturers and the supply chain 
of the Nation are victims of alarming increases in 
cargo theft across rails, roads, and the various dis-
tribution points across the Nation. CargoNet, a 
database of reported incidents in the United States, 
reported a 27 percent increase in cargo theft inci-
dents in 2024 compared to the previous year. Dur-
ing the same period, the average value per theft rose 
to over $202,000. These thefts range from large- 
scale physical theft of goods from containers and 
storage to sophisticated cybercriminal methods that 
divert shipments to illicit receivers, causing signifi-
cant financial losses and operational supply chain 
disruptions; 
(4) since 2022, more than 30 State laws have 
been enacted to address organized theft, allow for 
aggregation of thefts, and adjust penalties and en-
hancements. In 2024, California voters overwhelm-
ingly approved a constitutional reform to allow ag-
gregation of multiple or repeated thefts. Although 
larceny and organized retail crime are sometimes 
prosecuted at State and local levels, States face re-
source and investigative challenges from groups op-
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erating beyond local, State, and regional law en-
forcement capabilities. More needs to be done to ad-
dress the cross-jurisdictional, interstate, and inter-
national aspects of these crimes; 
(5) organized theft groups vary in scope and 
scale, operating across State jurisdictions to avoid or 
disrupt local, State, and Tribal law enforcement re-
sponse. These organized theft groups build hierar-
chies to easily redistribute stolen goods and illicit 
profits back into the economy of the United States 
or overseas with disregard for product and consumer 
safety. The groups exist and operate at the local, re-
gional, and transnational level, targeting goods that 
include raw and finished materials, various branded 
retail products across all consumer categories, oper-
ational assets in retail commerce such as reusable 
transport packaging products, and consumable goods 
including agriculture, food products, and medicines; 
(6) these groups are often polycriminal organi-
zations, using profit from the reselling of stolen 
goods to support crimes involving drugs and weap-
ons trafficking. The organized theft groups engage 
in human smuggling and have been known to use 
migrants to commit crimes to support the organiza-
tions. The groups move products and illicit proceeds 
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beyond the borders of the United States, funding ne-
farious groups and activities and threatening the in-
tegrity of the international economy; 
(7) organized theft groups— 
(A) threaten the safety and liberty of indi-
viduals in the United States when those individ-
uals engage in commerce; 
(B) impact the ability of the Nation to dis-
tribute goods to consumers, undermine con-
sumer confidence in the supply chain, and 
threaten the integrity of agricultural and 
consumable goods; 
(C) erode the national economy by increas-
ing the cost of goods, resulting in higher prices 
for consumers, reducing tax revenues, and im-
pacting employees, customers, and businesses 
alike; and 
(D) impact the national security of the 
United States through financing transnational 
criminal activity and providing profit and pro-
ceeds supporting larger criminal goals of the 
criminal organizations; and 
(8) it has become necessary for Congress to— 
(A) amend title 18, United States Code, to 
ensure that law enforcement has the legal tools 
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necessary to combat organized retail crime in 
the same capacity that law enforcement is able 
to combat theft and diversion from other por-
tions of the supply chain; and 
(B) direct the executive branch to create a 
central coordination center to align Federal, 
State, local, territorial, and Tribal efforts to 
combat organized retail crime and organized 
supply chain crime. 
SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO TITLE 18, UNITED STATES CODE. 
Part I of title 18, United States Code, is amended— 
(1) in section 982(a)(5)— 
(A) by redesignating subparagraphs (C), 
(D), and (E) as subparagraphs (D), (E), and 
(F), respectively; 
(B) by inserting after subparagraph (B) 
the following: 
‘‘(C) section 659 (interstate or foreign ship-
ments by carrier; State prosecutions);’’; 
(C) in subparagraph (E), as so redesig-
nated, by striking ‘‘; or’’ and inserting a semi-
colon; 
(D) in subparagraph (F), as so redesig-
nated, by striking the period at the end and in-
serting a semicolon; and 
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(E) by inserting after subparagraph (F), 
as so redesignated, the following: 
‘‘(G) section 2314 (transportation of stolen 
goods, securities, moneys, fraudulent State tax 
stamps, or articles used in counterfeiting); or 
‘‘(H) section 2315 (sale or receipt of stolen 
goods, securities, moneys, or fraudulent State tax 
stamps);’’; 
(2) in section 1956(c)— 
(A) in paragraph (5), by striking ‘‘and 
money orders’’ and inserting ‘‘money orders, 
general-use prepaid cards, gift certificates, and 
store gift cards’’; and 
(B) in paragraph (7)(D)— 
(i) by inserting ‘‘section 659 (inter-
state or foreign shipments by carrier; State 
prosecutions),’’ after ‘‘section 658 (relating 
to property mortgaged or pledged to farm 
credit agencies),’’; and 
(ii) by inserting ‘‘section 2314 (trans-
portation of stolen goods, securities, mon-
eys, fraudulent State tax stamps, or arti-
cles used in counterfeiting), section 2315 
(sale or receipt of stolen goods, securities, 
moneys, or fraudulent State tax stamps),’’ 
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after ‘‘section 2281 (relating to violence 
against maritime fixed platforms),’’; 
(3) in section 2314, in the first paragraph— 
(A) by inserting ‘‘, or by using any facility 
of interstate or foreign commerce,’’ after ‘‘com-
merce’’; 
(B) by inserting ‘‘or of an aggregate value 
of $5,000 or more during any 12-month pe-
riod,’’ after ‘‘more,’’; 
(C) by inserting ‘‘, embezzled,’’ after ‘‘sto-
len’’; and 
(D) by inserting ‘‘, false pretense, or other 
illegal means’’ after ‘‘fraud’’; and 
(4) in section 2315, in the first paragraph— 
(A) by inserting ‘‘or of an aggregate value 
of $5,000 or more during any 12-month pe-
riod,’’ after ‘‘$5,000 or more,’’; and 
(B) by striking ‘‘; or’’ and inserting ‘‘, or 
have been stolen, unlawfully converted, or taken 
by the use of any facility of interstate or foreign 
commerce in the commission of said act; or’’. 
SEC. 4. ESTABLISHMENT OF A CENTER TO COMBAT ORGA-
NIZED RETAIL AND SUPPLY CHAIN CRIME. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Title III of the Trade Facilitation 
and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015 (19 U.S.C. 4341 et 
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seq.) is amended by inserting after section 305 the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘SEC. 305A. ORGANIZED RETAIL AND SUPPLY CHAIN CRIME 
COORDINATION CENTER. 
‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
‘‘(1) CENTER.—The term ‘Center’ means the 
Organized Retail and Supply Chain Crime Coordina-
tion Center established pursuant to subsection 
(b)(1). 
‘‘(2) ORGANIZED RETAIL AND SUPPLY CHAIN 
CRIME.—The term ‘organized retail and supply 
chain crime’ includes— 
‘‘(A) any crime described in section 659, 
2117, 2314, or 2315 of title 18, United States 
Code that is committed by, in coordination 
with, or at the instruction of an organization; 
‘‘(B) aiding or abetting the commission of, 
or conspiring to commit, any act that is in fur-
therance of a violation of a crime referred to in 
subparagraph (A); and 
‘‘(C) other crimes related to those de-
scribed in subparagraphs (A) and (B). 
‘‘(3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘Secretary’ means 
the Secretary of Homeland Security. 
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‘‘(4) EXECUTIVE
ASSOCIATE
DIRECTOR.—The 
term ‘Executive Associate Director’ means the Exec-
utive Associate Director of Homeland Security In-
vestigations. 
‘‘(b) ORGANIZED RETAIL AND SUPPLY CHAIN CRIME 
COORDINATION CENTER.— 
‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 90 days 
after the date of enactment of the Combating Orga-
nized Retail Crime Act, the Secretary shall direct 
the Executive Associate Director to establish the Or-
ganized Retail and Supply Chain Crime Coordina-
tion Center. 
‘‘(2) DUTIES.—The duties of the Center shall 
include— 
‘‘(A) coordinating Federal law enforcement 
activities related to organized retail and supply 
chain crime, including investigations of national 
and transnational criminal organizations that 
are engaged in organized retail and supply 
chain crime; 
‘‘(B) establishing relationships with State 
and local law enforcement agencies and organi-
zations, including organized retail crime asso-
ciations and cargo theft associations, and shar-
ing information regarding organized retail and 
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supply chain crime threats with such agencies 
and organizations; 
‘‘(C) assisting State and local law enforce-
ment agencies with State and local investiga-
tions of organized retail and supply chain crime 
groups; 
‘‘(D) establishing relationships with retail, 
transportation, and other companies determined 
by the Executive Associate Director to have sig-
nificant interests relating to organized retail 
and supply chain crime threats, sharing infor-
mation with those companies regarding such 
threats, collaborating on investigations and loss 
prevention activities as appropriate, and pro-
viding a mechanism for the receipt of investiga-
tive information on such threats; 
‘‘(E) establishing a secure system for shar-
ing information regarding organized retail and 
supply chain crime threats by leveraging exist-
ing information systems at the Department of 
Homeland Security and the Department of Jus-
tice; 
‘‘(F) tracking trends with respect to orga-
nized retail and supply chain crime and releas-
ing annual public reports on such trends; and 
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