Meet the shameless serial shoplifter who is still waltzing free down NYC store aisles despite a staggering 254 arrests.<\/p>\n
Anthony White, 63, who has made larceny a career<\/a>, was busted as recently as May on burglary charges after being paroled from prison on parole in December.<\/p>\n Anthony White is one of the top shoplifting recidivists in the city, racking up 254 arrests, cop sources said. Obtained by the New York Post<\/p>\n The thief was\u00a0allegedly ripping off stores where he had already been banned for theft \u2014 but was set free by judges after his arraignments on the latest offenses, court records show.<\/p>\n Rampant shoplifting like White is accused of has prompted stores across the city to lock their goods behind plastic barricades. <\/p>\n While the number of offenses has dipped 10% so far this year over last year, the crime has surged 89% to more than 27,705 incidents this year from 14,286 in 2020, police data show<\/a>.<\/p>\n Critics and cops complain that the petty thieves are routinely released back to the street as soon as they\u2019re arrested, stymying the NYPD\u2019s attempts to return the offense to pre-2020 levels, police sources said.<\/p>\n There were 1,288 criminals responsible for 45% of all shoplifting incidents, according to NYPD data obtained by The Post.<\/p>\n The top four recidivists alone have 795 arrests among them, mostly for shoplifting, police sources said.\u00a0<\/p>\n The NYPD blames the problem on a lax criminal justice system that keeps trying to get the culprits \u2014 often dogged by drug addiction \u2014 into treatment programs that don\u2019t stick, creating a cycle of criminality.<\/p>\n \u201cThey keep getting out and going back and shoplifting again,\u201d said a cop, who has arrested some of the five-finger discount offenders. \u00a0<\/p>\n There were 1,288 criminals who were responsible for 45% of the shoplifting incidents, according to NYPD data. Steven Hirsch<\/p>\n Laron Mack, who has 203 arrests on his record, was last arrested for stealing from an Upper West Side Duane Reade, police sources said. Steven Hirsch<\/p>\n In one alleged theft on May 15, White walked into iconic 30 Rockefeller Plaza<\/a> around 3 p.m., swiped two shirts from displays and shoved them under his sweatshirt, according to a criminal complaint.<\/p>\n He then strolled past the registers and tried to leave the store without paying, prosecutors said. Security found the shirts on him.\u00a0<\/p>\n He was arraigned on\u00a0petty larceny charges the next day.\u00a0<\/p>\n