Employees at a CVS in Washington, D.C., say that a gang of school-aged thieves regularly empty out several shelves at their store by planning thefts around the time shipments arrive, Fox 5 reported.

The staff at this shop say 45 or so kids regularly go into the store before and after school to loot chips and drinks, Fox 5 reported Wednesday. The employees further claimed that the gang plans their heists when new shipments arrive and then sell off the goods to street vendors who they allege pay the kids to steal so that they can re-sell the items at a profit, the outlet noted. (RELATED: Philly Looting Suspects Quickly Return To Streets Under Soros-Backed DA’s Cashless Bail System)

Ilana Miller, a CVS customer, told the outlet that the string of thefts makes her “not want to shop there to be honest.”

“I just go in there and get my prescription and then when I need other things, I go elsewhere because there’s nothing there to get,” she added.

Fox 5 investigated the matter and found that street vendors were selling items that might have come from a CVS store but they could not confirm whether the items were stolen or not. Customers and employees at the local CVS think that security, which is currently confined to one guard during business hours, should be beefed up and the shoplifters ought to be prosecuted, the outlet reported.

The shelves are bare at a CVS store in D.C.’s Columbia Heights neighborhood after workers tell FOX 5 thieves have been planning targeted robberies scheduled around merchandise delivery times. https://t.co/mQx3DQAGyV

— FOX 5 DC (@fox5dc) October 4, 2023

This CVS is not the only example of shoplifting in the region. A whole string of CVSs in the D.C. area have been targeted by shoplifters, Fox 5 reported in June.

“It’s sickening. I’ve been there for three, four, years now. It’s just getting worse,” one employee told the outlet at the time. “We work hard to keep that CVS intact, and you got people like that who come in and steal whatever they want, and it’s no consequences.”