2 Texas men charged with stealing thousands of dollars worth of calculators from Twin Cities, Texas Target locations

Two men from Texas are facing felony organized retail theft charges after hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of calculators were taken from Target stores in Texas and the Twin Cities metro area.

Criminal complaints name two Dallas men, 23-year-old Zachary Charles Fininen, and 30-year-old Antonio Griffin Jr., as suspects in a theft spree that saw thousands of dollars worth of calculators taken from Target stores in the metro area back in February.

According to charging documents, investigators believe they are part of a larger calculator theft ring based in Dallas that is responsible for more than $250,000 worth of stolen merchandise.

Court records show that police were first called to the Woodbury Target on Commerce Drive for a reported theft in progress on Feb. 21.

A Target asset protection employee told police that two men, later identified as Fininen and Griffin, took calculators from a rack and put them in an empty cooler before leaving the store without paying.

Arriving officers then found the two men pushing a cart with a cooler inside. When police tried to stop them, the men abandoned the cart and ran through the parking lot, according to the complaint.

Fininen was reportedly apprehended by an off-duty state trooper while Woodbury police apprehended Griffin near Sam’s Club.

The Target asset protection employee then said the value of the calculators stolen by the two was $5,527.61.

Investigators then reviewed surveillance footage and determined that the two men arrived in a black Nissan SUV, which was no longer in the parking lot. They then determined the SUV was a rental from the Dallas Fort Worth Airport in Dallas, Texas. Both men had Texas addresses on their IDs, according to court documents.

The complaint states that officers then found the two men stole calculators from several other Target stores earlier in the day. One theft was at a different Target store in Woodbury located on Valley Creek Road, and the value of that merchandise was $1,931.87. The value of other thefts and the locations of stores where they happened include:

• Eagan – $1,564.89
• Apple Valley – $2,175.84
• Lakeville – $1,252.92
• West St. Paul – $2,613.81
• Burnsville – $2,026.86
• Apple Valley South – $1,391.90

An investigator for Target then contacted police and told them the two men are believed to be responsible for a larger calculator theft ring in Texas that stole more than $250,000 worth of merchandise that has since been recovered.