Three people have been charged in a theft investigation in our area.

Stratford Police say they finished an investigation called Magnet last Thursday.

They say it involved large scale thefts from a number of different retail locations across southwestern Ontario and it began after an incident in Stratford which involved a London woman being arrested and charged.

They learned the 50-year-old woman would routinely travelled to various municipalities where she stole goods from large retail stores.

The stolen merchandise was then trafficked to other people involved in different locations.

Police say the woman would steal on an average of six days per week and target six to ten stores per day.

She would travel up to 1000 kilometres per day to reach different retail stores.

As a result of the investigation, the woman’s vehicle was seized and search warrants were executed at homes in Oakville and London where police say a large quantity of stolen goods were recovered.

The value of the seized property is estimated to be in excess of $100,000.

The woman, along with two people from Oakville, all face numerous charges and are scheduled to appear in court in the future.