Police recover $300,000 in stolen Home Depot tools, arrest 32

Hamilton police said 32 people were arrested and 235 criminal charges were laid after a four-month investigation into organized retail theft that recovered more than $300,000 in suspected stolen property, including a 2021 Ram TRX. The probe, called Project Checkout, focused on thefts tied to Home Depot stores in Hamilton and other hardware retailers.

Investigators launched the case after noticing a 25 per cent increase in thefts from Home Depot stores in the Hamilton area. Police said the thefts involved high-value tools and construction equipment taken from multiple Home Depot and hardware-store locations, then allegedly moved into resale channels. The arrests ranged in age from 19 to 64.

For store associates and department leads, the case lands in the same place these crimes often do: on the sales floor and in the aisle where workers are expected to keep product moving while also protecting the building. Police said employees faced threats when they intervened, a reminder that organized theft can turn into a safety issue as quickly as it becomes a shrink issue.

Hamilton Police Service said the operation recovered the stolen goods over the course of the investigation and seized the Ram TRX as part of the case. The pattern police described was not a single grab-and-run incident, but repeated thefts across stores that investigators said were coordinated and aimed at resale.

The Hamilton arrests fit into a broader pattern for Home Depot. In August 2025, Southern California authorities said 14 suspects were arrested in what they called the company’s largest organized retail theft operation in its history, tied to about 600 thefts at 71 Home Depot stores and losses exceeding $10 million. In April 2026, Southern California authorities said more than $600,000 in Home Depot tools were seized in a separate theft-and-resale investigation.

That larger pattern has pushed tool theft from an inventory problem into an operations problem for Home Depot stores, where higher-value power tools, construction equipment and contractor-grade merchandise are also the products most likely to draw organized crews. In Hamilton, police said the merchandise taken from Home Depot and other hardware locations was being resold, turning store theft into a pipeline that stretched well beyond the front door.