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Three people are facing dozens of felony charges after allegedly going on a spree of organized retail thefts in the Bay Area from September to November, California Attorney General Rob Bonta said Wednesday.
The suspects, whose names were not immediately released, are accused of attempting 25 different robberies in multiple locations, including the robbery of a Louis Vuitton store in Walnut Creek late last year that involved crashing a stolen Land Rover into the store.
“Organized retail crime is a top priority for our California DOJ, for my team and for me. We’re not just here to talk about it, we’re here to do something about it, to act, as our action shows today,” Bonta said at a press conference announcing the charges.
Bonta alleged the organized crime ring stole over $650,000 worth of goods in Alameda, Contra Costa, and other counties, including San Diego, and targeted ATMs in at least two locations.
The robberies were often committed at night and mostly targeted smoke shops, liquor stores and retail stores. Many of the robberies were stopped while they were in progress, but the suspects fled in getaway cars in each instance.
The 50 felony charges include organized retail theft, second-degree burglary, grand theft, and vandalism, Bonta said. The three suspects also face 10 misdemeanors.
“These weren’t one-off smash-and-grabs at your local big box store. We’re talking about a series of coordinated, organized crimes that took place over the course of two months,” Bonta said.
The arrests were made with the help of a task force made up by representatives from the Concord Police Department, Walnut Creek Police Department, Oakland Police Department, Brentwood Police Department, Tracy Police Department, and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
“Walnut Creek detectives worked diligently and thoroughly on this investigation,” said Walnut Creek Police Chief Jamie Knox in a statement.
“We appreciated the partnership with the Concord Police Department, FBI Safe Streets, and the Attorney General’s Office among others to bring this complex case to a successful conclusion,” Knox said.
Bonta said a legislative change made by Assembly Bill 1613 in 2022 that allows the attorney general to charge crimes committed in different jurisdictions together cleared the way to charge the crimes in Contra Costa County.
The thefts allegedly committed by the same suspects include the Land Rover-involved robbery in Walnut Creek on Oct. 3, when more than $246,000 worth of merchandise was taken by a group of 10-15 people, as well as a robbery of a Discount Cigarettes store in Dublin on Oct. 18, and a burglary of a Vallejo smoke shop on Nov. 14.
In two instances, the suspects are accused of ramming their vehicle into law enforcement, injuring an officer in one case.
The prevalence of organized retail theft involving groups of people who plan repeated large-scale robberies and resell stolen goods has spurred a series of actions from the state, including a California Highway Patrol task force that partners with local law enforcement, more funding for local law enforcement from the state, legislation and the creation of an Assembly select committee to make recommendations on how to combat the issue.
During its first hearing in December, the Assembly Select Committee on Retail Theft heard from a panel of stakeholders, including retail workers, union representatives and law enforcement. The panelists agreed that theft is an active concern, but how much of it was “organized retail theft” was hard to determine, partially due to a lack of data sharing by the industry and underreporting of theft by store owners large and small.
In December, the National Retail Federation retracted a claim that half of the industry’s $94.5 billion losses in 2021 were due to organized retail theft.