SAN FRANCISCO — Authorities have charged three “high-level” people in an organized retail crime theft ring with more than 50 felony counts for their alleged roles in a two-month pillaging of businesses in the East Bay and beyond.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced the charges at a press conference in San Francisco on Wednesday morning, saying that others involved on the criminal side of the organized retail theft game should take the charges as a warning that authorities are “ramping up” their efforts and ability to break such rings.
“Customers deserve to walk into a store without keeping an eye on the emergency exits,” Bonta said. “Workers deserve to clock in for their shift without fear they may not be able to safely clock out.”
Among the felony charges against each of the three people are organized retail theft, second-degree burglary, grand theft and vandalism, Bonta said. Authorities also have charged the three with 10 misdemeanors, he added.
Authorities did not identify any of the suspects, citing an ongoing investigation.
According to Bonta, the ring attempted about 25 commercial burglaries — succeeding in some — from Sept. 8 until Nov. 14 and targeted high-end retail stores, liquor stores and smoke shops.
The crimes — which authorities said included an Oct. 3 smash-and-grab robbery at a Louis Vuitton store in Walnut Creek’s Broadway Plaza, during which a suspect drove a suspected stolen Land Rover through the front window — cost businesses more than $650,000 in total, Bonta said.
The Louis Vuitton robbery netted about $246,000 of merchandise from the store, authorities said.
“In that case, there was easily a dozen suspects, maybe up to 15,” Walnut Creek police Capt. Andy Brown said at the same gathering. “We know this because we responded within a minute of the alarm at (the store). Our officers were on scene as the suspects were fleeing.”
Most eluded arrest that day, but Brown said that follow-up work by Walnut Creek detectives Matt Smith and Jenna Kolmeister led to the charges against the three.
The Contra Costa FBI Safe Streets Task Force, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitations and police in Concord, Brentwood, Oakland, and Tracy all took part in the investigation.
“We’re not talking about one-off shoplifting incidents,” Bonta said. “These were not one-off smash-and-grabs at your local box store. We’re talking about a series of coordinated, organized crimes that took place over the course of two months — the same group of people over and over and over.”
On two occasions, the ring stole ATM machines, Bonta said.
The group also turned their attention to San Diego County during the two-month period, authorities said. The three are accused of stealing about $120,000 in merchandise from a Chanel store in San Diego on Nov. 8.
“This was a huge spike,” Bonta said. “These are brazen. Twenty-five incidents in about a 60-day period is essentially one every other day.”
According to Bonta, the three suspects were arraigned Wednesday in Contra Costa County Superior Court.
