Serial shoplifters who allegedly hit more than 17 Fresno, Clovis stores enter pleas
Two suspected retail burglars were arraigned in Fresno County Superior Court Wednesday for allegedly taking part in an organized shoplifting scheme that stole merchandise from more than 17 stores in the area.
Schirell Cummings, 21, and Reginald Taylor, 21, both of Fresno pleaded not guilty to 24 felonies total between them both.
Cummings faces 18 felony counts including robbery, burglary, conspiracy to receive stolen property and grand theft. Taylor is charged with six felony counts including robbery, burglary, and grand theft.
They were arrested on May 13, two days after they were captured on video walking out of the CVS Pharmacy at Herndon and West avenues with several shopping bags of stolen bottles of liquor.
At the time of the CVS burglary, Cummings was already facing charges in three other felony retail theft cases. She had been released from jail on her own recognizance while she waited for her case to make it through the system.
This time around, Deputy District Attorney Miiko Anderson wanted to make it more difficult for Cummings and Taylor to bail out. She requested that they prove to Judge James Kelley that the bail money didn’t come from their criminal conduct.
Kelley set a bail hearing for May 25. If the judge agrees to the prosecutors request, bail for Cummings will be $482,000 and $60,000 for Taylor.
More than 17 different businesses in the Fresno and Clovis area have been victimized by organized shoplifting in this case, prosecutors said. The total financial loss is alleged to exceed at least $35,000 from these incidents alone.
The thefts took place between December 5, 2021, and May 11, 2022, including two violent robberies committed in February and March of this year.
In May of 2020, Cummings was arrested along with two other teenagers for robbing thousands of dollars worth of items from Dick’s Sporting Goods store in Clovis.
If convicted of all charges, Cummings faces up to 18 years and 8 months in state prison. Taylor faces up to 6 years and 4 months in state prison.
