NYC couple netted $2M in massive mob-style theft ring : DA

A Queens couple ran a massive mob-style theft ring targeting major chains such as Macy’s and Sephora and swiping luxury brands to rake in millions of dollars, officials said Tuesday.Sticky-fingered husband and wife Cristopher Guzman, 35, and Yvelisse Guzman Batista, 29, earned themselves the dubious distinction of being the first criminals charged under a new state law aimed at helping to take out such widespread online schemes, authorities said.“Listen, this is going to be real simple,” Gov.Kathy Hochul said at a press conference touting the new law — which criminalizes the “fostering the sale of stolen goods,’’ particularly using the Web and middlemen.“We’ve had enough with criminals preying on our citizens,” Hochul said.

“We are sick and tired of our citizens feeling they’re vulnerable to — whether it’s random crimes on the streets or whether it’s these sophisticated organized crime rings.And we are coming after you.”Guzman and Batista allegedly sat atop what Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz called a “large-scale retail theft and fencing operation” built upon a thieves’ guild that delivered them stolen high-end makeup, perfume, beauty products, designer clothing and accessories from up and down the East Coast.The Guzmans allegedly ordered crews to jack certain items from stores, then sold the goods out of their Kew Gardens home or a storefront in the Dominican Republic under the name Yvelissa Fashion, LLC, Katz said in a statement.Other times, the couple paid off truck drivers a la the mob to bring them loads of products right from the manufacturers’ warehouses instead of to retailers such as Sephora and Ulta Beauty, where they were supposed to go, Katz said.“The defendants ran a widespread fencing operation that offered stolen merchandise for sale far below retail prices,” Katz said, adding that the Guzmans made more than $2 million in their illicit endeavor.“These arrests once again prove that consumers shoul...