The holiday shopping season is drawing to a close, but next year Utah lawmakers may give retailers a late (or early) Christmas present -- an enhanced ability to go after high-volume thieves.

"We're going after teams of boosters who are going in and stealing thousands of dollars of retail at one time," said state Rep. Paul Ray, R-Clearfield.

Ray has filed a proposal for the legislative session that starts next month that would add retail theft to the list of crimes that can be part of "a pattern of unlawful activity."

Prosecutors would be able to ask for restitution for the crimes, and the bill would also allow several thefts to be combined when charges are filed, Ray said.

Currently, he said, thefts of under $1,000 are misdemeanors, so someone who steals less than that amount from several stores could only be charged with individual misdemeanor crimes. His legislation would allow those charges to be combined into a felony theft.

It's not in the law now because large-scale "organized retail theft" -- as it's known to the industry -- wasn't anticipated, Ray said.

"It's relatively new," he said. "They didn't think about people boosting for huge profits."

It's a growing problem, however, that's expected to cost retailers and consumers $37 billion in 2006, according to the Retail Industry Leaders Association.

Only a few states, including Alabama, Colorado, New Jersey and Washington, have adjusted their laws to meet the crime so far, said Hannah Abney, RILA spokeswoman.

The thefts can take many forms, she said.

"They're generally very sophisticated," Abney said. "Anything from return fraud to label switching to just mass theft of small, highly valuable products -- razor blades, small electronics, baby formula."

In October, three men were arrested in Riverdale after stealing 39 iPods from a Target store.

One man deposited the music players in his jeans, which were lined with material that blocked detection by magnetic detectors at the front of the store.

An hour later they were caught trying the same heist at a Target in Centerville.

In one well-known case, $22 million worth of stolen baby formula was routed through an Arizona company and resold to wholesalers and stores across the country from 1997 to 2003.

The leader of that operation employed more than 20 people and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Another case involved fake labels, Abney said.

A man printed fake UPC labels and "he would go into a store, take a $100 Lego set, put the $5 label on it -- then resell it for $75," she said. "And do that in large quantities."

Ray said that violent gangs are sometimes involved in the theft rings, and that the proceeds from large-scale thievery can finance other illegal activities.

"This is a huge funding source for them," he said. "This seems to be a cheap and easy way to do it."

A RILA report notes that in addition to costing companies and customers money, there's a health risk as well -- resold baby formula or over-the-counter medicines may not have been stored properly, or may be past their expiration dates.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page A1.