A Connecticut couple is accused of participating in a complicated retail theft against clothing company Lululemon that may have involved $1 million in stolen items, according to a criminal complaint.

The couple, Jadion Anthony Richards, 44, and Akwele Nickeisha Lawes-Richards, 45, were arrested Nov. 14 in Woodbury, Minn., a suburb of Minneapolis-St. Paul. Richards and Lawes-Richards were each charged with one count of organized retail theft, which is a felony, the Ramsey County District Attorney’s Office said. They are from Danbury, Connecticut.

The alleged operation affected Lululemon stores in several states, including Minnesota.

“Thanks to the outstanding work of Roseville Police detectives – including their new Retail Crimes Unit – as well as other law enforcement agencies, these individuals accused of this massive retail theft were caught,” a spokesperson for the law firm said in a Nov. 18 statement . “We will do everything in our power to hold these defendants accountable and continue to work with our law enforcement partners and retailers to put an end to retail theft in our community.”

According to the district attorney, both Richards and Lawes-Richards posted bail on Sunday and agreed to the terms of a court-ordered conditional release. The court set bail for Richards at $100,000 on conditional release, including weekly monitoring, or $600,000 on unconditional release. For Lawes-Richards, bail was set at $30,000 on conditional release with weekly monitoring or $200,000 on unconditional release. They are scheduled to appear in court again on December 16.

Prosecutors had asked for bail of $1 million for each half of the couple, the law firm said.

Richards and Lawes-Richards are accused by authorities of orchestrating an elaborate retail theft scheme that dates back to at least September. Their joint arrests came a day after the pair allegedly set off a store alarm while trying to leave a Lululemon in Roseville, Minnesota, and an organized retail crime investigator, identified in charging documents by the initials RP, recognized them .

The couple was allowed to leave the Roseville store. But the investigator later told an officer who responded to the incident that Richards and Lawes-Richards were experienced shoplifters who had apparently stolen nearly $5,000 worth of Lululemon items that day, possibly “for the loss of hundreds of thousands.” US dollars were responsible”. to be stored nationwide,” the complaint states. That figure was eventually estimated even higher by an investigator for the brand, with the criminal complaint putting it at as much as $1 million.

Richards and Lawes-Richards allegedly implicated other people in their shoplifting, but none were named in the complaint. Authorities said they successfully deterred the thefts by distracting store employees and later conducting fraudulent returns of the stolen items at various Lululemon stores.

“Between October 29, 2024 and October 30, 2024, RP documented eight theft incidents in Colorado involving Richards and Lawes-Richards and an unidentified female,” authorities wrote in the complaint, describing an example of how the operation would supposedly develop.

“The group worked together and used specific organized retail crime tactics, such as blocking and distracting employees, to commit large-scale thefts,” the complaint states. “They selected coats and jackets and held them up as if looking at them in a way that blocked the view of staff and other guests while they selected and hidden items. In several stores they removed security sensors with a tool. “

CBS News contacted Lululemon for comment but did not receive an immediate response.