Valley organized retail thief sentenced to 3.5 years in prison

PHOENIX — A man has been sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison for organized retail theft, Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell announced Thursday.

Juan Ambriz-Rincon, 40, pleaded guilty to five felony counts in April, including organized retail theft, trafficking in stolen property and possession of dangerous drugs.

Ambriz-Rincon’s crimes were committed in multiple states, tallying over $1 million in stolen merchandise from home improvement stores across the Southwest.

“Rather than being gainfully employed, this criminal made it his full-time job to steal over $1,000,000 from retail stores and then re-sell the stolen merchandise,” Mitchell said. “This significant restitution combined with the prison sentence lets offenders know Maricopa County is not the place where you can get away with this type of crime.”

In addition to serving jailtime, he must pay $300,000 in restitution.