Run afoul of the wrong side of the law, with some of your best games or gaming gear stolen? Then head to GameStop! Not to buy more, but because that may very well be where your stuff ended up, at least if you live in Memphis.

Authorities said today that eight current and former employees of the world's largest video game retailer have pleaded guilty to theft of property charges for buying video games purported to be stolen.

...

"GameStop takes this situation quite seriously," said Rory Rhoads, GameStop's Regional Vice President of Stores. "We are pleased to partner with the ALERT Unit and have taken very deliberate steps to improve our operations. Specifically, we have suspended our cash-for-trade transactions in Shelby County and DeSoto County, Mississippi until February 2009."

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Rhoads said GameStop has conducted extensive training of employees, reminding them of the policy against receipt of stolen merchandise and helping them identify such items.

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Each of the eight defendants charged pleaded guilty to theft of property under $500 and was ordered to serve one year on diversion, a form of probation that can end with their record being cleared. -- Commercial Appeal

Hmm, "taking it seriously," eh? Could have picked a better choice of words. As per The Consumerist:

"Taking it seriously" is a phrase companies (and politicians) use over and over again to appear contrite or thoughtful without actually saying or doing anything. Our series of posts documenting the phrase's attempts recurrences are our attempt to question how much seriousness-taking is actually going on.

Indeed. I bet GameStop will come down hard and really crack down on this... in some locations... for a couple of months, maybe.