Underwear thefts - often drug-related - on the rise

Last July, Dorene Delyte Rainey wanted heroin. So she stole some underwear.

She was working with an accomplice. The pair got away with more than $1,500 in underwear from a western Henrico County Macy’s. The plan was to sell it for half the retail price, then use the money to buy drugs.

But the authorities caught up with her, and she was sentenced to three years in prison, with all but six months suspended, plus restitution.

The man who prosecuted Rainey, Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Robert J. Windle, estimated he has seen five or more similar cases of underwear shoplifting in the past couple of years.

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