Winnipeg police say they’ve arrested the alleged leader of a retail theft crime ring, accusing him of having a hand in recruiting several shoplifters to steal brand-name power tools.

A 37-year-old man was taken into custody Thursday following an investigation that began in June 2025, when police received information an individual was recruiting others to steal items from home improvement stores, a news release issued Saturday said.

The ringleader would purchase the tools through a third-party and resell them at a profit, the release said.

Police allege the 37-year-old routinely used text messaging and social media to speak with the recruited shoplifters. Investigators seized his phone as evidence on Dec. 9, but the man was not charged pending the results of a phone search, they said.

The man was charged with trafficking in property obtained by crime over $5,000. He’s been released on an undertaking and is slated to appear in court at a later date, the release said.

Man facing dozens of charges after string of thefts

Police said in a separate news release Saturday a 36-year-old man has also been arrested in connection to a string of thefts involving power tools at multiple home improvement stores in the city.

The 23 shoplifting incidents — which happened in a three-month-period ending on March 12, the day the man was arrested — all involved the theft of brand-name tools and power tools, police said. The property was worth a total of $12,645, according to the release.

Const. Claude Chancy said in an email Sunday the store locations where the thefts happened —on Regent Avenue, Empress Street, Leila Avenue, Kenaston Boulevard and Abinojii Mikanah — were all owned by the same retail company. The release said all the incidents were captured by security cameras.

Investigators allege the man used stolen identification to pawn more than 400 items at a pawn shop on Main Street starting last July, police said.

Police estimate the value of those items to be between $105,000 and $140,000, but the man is believed to have received only about $34,600 for the property. About $12,000 worth of stolen property was recovered from the pawn shop, the release said.

The 36-year-old was charged with 23 counts of theft under $5,000, 12 counts of fail to comply with recognizance, and one count each of identity fraud and trafficking property obtained by crime over $5,000. He remained in police custody, police said.

The investigations that led to this arrest and the one onto the alleged shoplifting ringleader were not related, Chancy said.