personal shoplifternoun.
A thief hired by an individual to shoplift goods.
Example Citation:
In a high-profile trial in St. Paul, Minn., reported in News of the Weird in 1997, members of the well-to-do family of Gerald and Judy Dick were charged with hiring a personal shoplifter to steal expensive goods from Dayton's department store. ... In February 1999, the Dicks' son Jim, 34, who had been accused in 1997 of paying a shoplifter $ 800 for $ 6,000 worth of Dayton's clothing and who now works as a professional model, was hired for Dayton's new spring fashions advertising campaign, apparently without Dayton's executives realizing it.
—Chuck Shepard, "Real model no model," The Times Union, April 1, 1999
Earliest Citation:
A well-to-do dentist and his family have been charged with receiving stolen goods after allegedly employing their own personal shoplifter to steal designer clothes and crystal, police said on Friday.
—"Minn. dentist, family charged with having personal shoplifter," Chicago Tribune, December 6, 1996
Notes:
The phrase personal shoplifter — a play on personal shopper — appears to be losing steam since I couldn't find any media citations newer than the one above. Let's hope that's because people have learned that shoplifting-for-hire (the offical police term for this crime) is just a little on the stupid side.
