Shoplifting surged by 40 percent compared with last year in Virginia’s largest county, where a George Soros-funded prosecutor announced in 2020 he would not prosecute shoplifting under $1,000.
Data from the Fairfax County Police Department reveal an increase of more than 1,000 cases of shoplifting compared with this time last year, when there were 2,592 after just over six months. Fairfax County commonwealth’s attorney Steve Descano announced in 2020 his office would not prosecute a slew of misdemeanors, including shoplifting valued up to $1,000.
Descano came into office in 2020 with other candidates promising progressive criminal justice reforms, riding a wave of funding from left-wing billionaire Soros. Soros-affiliated organizations donated more than half a million dollars to Descano’s primary campaign. Descano’s decision to not prosecute many misdemeanors came under fire, even from the left-leaning Washington Post Editorial Board.
Descano downgraded abduction and burglary charges that could have landed a man in prison for more than 26 years, according to the Washington Free Beacon. Instead, the man walked free after only five months in prison and was arrested less than a year later after allegedly killing two homeless men and wounding three others during a nine-day shooting spree.
The Fairfax prosecutor won the Democratic primary last month with about 55 percent of the vote, all but assuring him a second term as top prosecutor in deep-blue Fairfax County.
Organized retail theft in the county has spiked in recent years, according to local law enforcement. Fairfax County Police Department’s Tysons Urban Team—a group of officers focused mostly on retail crime—recovered more than $930,000 in stolen merchandise last year, according to Annandale Today. By mid-June this year, they had already recovered over $530,000, compared with a full-year average of about $400,000 over the past 10 years.
Virginia governor Glenn Youngkin (R.) signed a bill in March making organized retail theft—stealing more than $5,000 in value with intent to sell—a Class 3 Felony, earning the thief at least five years in prison and up to an $100,000 fine.
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