Target Self-Checkout Used to Steal $60,000 in Merch

A Northern California woman is facing more than three years in prison after being convicted of stealing more than $60,000 worth of merchandise from a Target store using self-checkout, USA Today reports. Aziza Graves, 43, of San Francisco, has been found guilty of one felony count of grand theft in violation and 52 misdemeanor counts of petty theft in a series of retail thefts occurring at a Target in San Francisco, according to a press release from the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office.

Between October 2020 and November 2021, she entered the store in the Stonestown Galleria, brought items to the self-checkout, scanned them, and inserted “a single coin or bill” into the machine before leaving the store, jurors determined. In all, prosecutors said Graves stole from the same Target store 120 times in just over a one-year period, KRON-TV reported.
She was later seen selling her stolen goods at UN Plaza in the city, prosecutors wrote in the release. Graves was also convicted of one count of misdemeanor petty theft for stealing from a San Francisco-based Abercrombie and Fitch store, the release noted.

“Individuals such as Aziza Graves commit egregious thefts through brazen and repeated conduct that greatly impacts retailers’ ability to operate and serve the general public in their area,” District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said in a statement released following the conviction. “These crimes demand accountability and we need to send the message to others who engage in open and brash thefts that, with the support of our local law enforcement partners, our office will continue to pursue and prosecute those involved.”

Graves’ sentencing is set May 24 and she faces more than three years in prison, prosecutors said.

In a separate article, USA Today noted that California lawmakers are considering a bill could lead to fewer self-checkout kiosks in the Golden State. Senate Bill 1446, part of a bill package introduced by California State Senator Lola Smallwood-Cuevas in February, would require many large grocery and drug retail stores to staff up their self-checkout stations.

Experts say the bill could result in more stores moving away from the technology, which aims to reduce labor costs. But critics say the bill would impose unnecessary regulations on stores that are already starting to limit or scale back their use of such terminals.