The sprawling Monster Pawn store in downstate Bloomington is a friendly place to shop, proudly displaying a Fender guitar collection, and selling used merchandise ranging from $349 TVs to 50-cent comic books.

On a recent visit, no new, in-the-box items were observed among the merchandise for sale. That’s significant, because the Monster Pawn retail chain is at the center of a criminal case aimed at sending a message to Illinois shoplifters who just a few years ago were operating much too freely.

In 2022, the Illinois General Assembly approved legislation that defined the offense of “organized retail crime” and provided more tools for fighting it. Now this case involving Monster Pawn is putting the relatively new law to a large-scale test.

So far, so good.

Organized retail crime is the

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