'This isn't a random shoplifter anymore': Home Depot CEO warns retail theft is a 'big problem' as the chain bolsters store security — even on small items. What's behind the alarming trend?

The home improvement retailer has faced the loss of two employees — Gary Rasor, 83, and Blake Mohs, 26 — who were killed during separate theft incidents over the past year.

In August, a Florida pastor was arrested and accused of operating a multimillion-dollar theft ring stealing from numerous Home Depot locations in the state.

Organized retail crime is growing in both scope and complexity across the country, according to a study from the National Retail Federation (NRF). Former Home Depot CEO Bob Nardelli described it to Fox News as an “epidemic … spreading faster than COVID.”

What’s behind this alarming trend?

Theft at Home Depot stores has been “growing double-digit year over year,” the retailer’s VP of asset protection, Scott Glenn, recently told ABC News.

“More and more we’re seeing the risk being brought into the stores, and people being hurt or people even being killed in many cases because these folks, they just don’t care about the consequence,” Glenn said.

To reduce the risk of theft and other crimes in its stores, Home Depot has started locking up high-value items, some of which Decker says may surprise customers.

“They’re not all big — they’re not all power tools and generators. You can have a circuit breaker — [worth] $50, $60, $80 — those are all high-theft items.”

When asked if Home Depot would have to shutter certain stores — following the footsteps of other retail giants — the CEO says the retailer has so far managed to avoid that.

However, Decker says the company is increasingly concerned over the safety of their employees and customers. As a result, they’ve invested more in security guards, more lighting in their parking lots and recording towers.

“It’s not a place in retail that many of us thought we would be,” he said.

Avoiding stolen goods online

When it comes to organized retail crime, “a lot of this product is [re-sold] on online marketplaces,” Decker said.

To counter this, the retail giant has been working with local, state and federal governments to help them understand the problem and come up with a viable solution.

Late last year, Congress passed the INFORM Consumers Act. The act requires online marketplaces to collect, verify and disclose certain financial and identifying information from “high-volume third-party sellers” — those with more than 200 transactions and $5,000 in revenue in a 12-month period.