Most of the $80,000 in merchandise ripped off from a Johnson City store over the last several weeks will never be recovered.

Village police were alerted to the huge retail theft scheme by the business last week. Store officials requested that the place not be identified.

Investigators learned the merchandise that was stolen was primarily "high-end clothing" including expensive sneakers.

Johnson City police chief Brent Dodge said he's not aware of any larger theft operation targeting a local store. He believes it might be the biggest such scheme ever in the region "by a long shot."

Dodge told WNBF News that two insiders - people who worked at the store - worked with several others to take merchandise at large unauthorized discounts. The discounts frequently were as high as 99 percent.

The scheme started on a small scale in November but the ring became more audacious over the next few weeks with the activity jumping dramatically this month.

Dodge said police were notified after store officials became aware of "suspicious transactions."

Police in recent days executed search warrants at various locations and recovered some of the stolen items. But Dodge estimated only one-quarter of the stolen merchandise has been found.

The police chief said it appears most of the loot was "given away as gifts" or sold online.

The investigation into the scheme isn't closed yet and there still may be a couple of additional arrests. At this point, detectives believe they've nabbed the key players in the scheme.

READ MORE: The names of those arrested and the charges they face by clicking HERE.

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Contact WNBF News reporter Bob Joseph: Email bob@wnbf.com or call (607) 545-2250. For breaking news and updates on developing stories, follow @BinghamtonNow on Twitter.

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