Officials discuss rampant Portland thefts by potential burglary ring
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) -- Two people were indicted Thursday after the Multnomah County District Attorney's Office said they stole from over 100 Portland businesses.
On Friday morning, representatives from the Multnomah County District Attorney's Office and Portland police will be coming together to discuss the thefts.
Courtney Carlile faces 35 charges and Josh Lucero faces 50 charges relating to thefts and criminal mischief, but police said they suspect more people are involved.
According to Portland police, they think that over 10 people could be involved in the burglary ring that has been stolen from over 100 stores in the past six months.
One of the businesses impacted by the burglaries was Artichoke Community Music in Southeast Portland, which was most recently broken into in November.
“Guitar stores and music instrument stores are just soft targets. They’re easy to fence. They’re easy to just break in. Our security wasn’t the best. We’ve upgraded that thanks to a lot of help from our community. They gave us a lot of good donations, and we’ve really enhanced what we have. So I think we’re a lot more protected than we were,” said Shelley Garrett from Artichoke Community Music. “Just watching them come in here and look at everything was heartbreaking.”
More to come, stay with KOIN 6 News as this story develops.