SACRAMENTO – Doubling down on the state’s commitment to take down criminals who seek to ruin the holiday season, Governor Gavin Newsom today announced proactive law enforcement operations with retailers, loss prevention teams, and local law enforcement agencies to conduct several confidential operations statewide in the coming weeks to dismantle known criminal rings tied to organized retail crime.
The results speak for themselves – from September to October, there’s been a 54% increase in investigations, 134% more arrests, and 2,600% more stolen items recovered.
“Our CHP task force continues to be at the forefront of fighting retail crimes and increasing public safety. This holiday season, we are putting in the work to prevent grinches from taking advantage of our businesses and the community overall.”
Governor Gavin Newsom
Led by the CHP, the Organized Retail Crime Task Force works with state, local, and federal partners to tackle retail crime statewide and increase public safety through nation-leading new laws and years of state investments to combat crime.
Led by the CHP, the Organized Retail Crime Task Force works with state, local, and federal partners to tackle retail crime statewide and increase public safety through nation-leading new laws and years of state investments to combat crime.
This year so far, officers have conducted 566 investigations, made 874 arrests, and recovered 210,465 stolen assets worth an estimated nearly $13 million. Since the inception of this task force in 2019, the CHP has been involved in over 4,100 investigations, leading to the arrest of over 4,600 suspects and the recovery of over 1.4 million stolen goods valued at over $64.5 million.
“Families deserve to shop safely, and merchants deserve to operate without fear of being targeted. Our Organized Retail Crime Task Force teams throughout the state, working closely with our law enforcement partners and retail loss prevention professionals, are conducting proactive, intelligence-driven operations to stop these crimes in progress,” said CHP Commissioner Sean Duryee. “This work is essential because organized retail crime doesn’t just steal merchandise, it steals security from our communities. We are committed to restoring it.”
Taking down a retail theft enterprise
While officers continue their work across the state combating organized retail theft rings, CHP recently took down a retail theft enterprise. The CHP received an investigation referral from the Home Depot regarding an individual involved in a sophisticated fraud and theft scheme, linked to hundreds of incidents at retail locations statewide. Resulting in losses over $900,000, this retail theft enterprise would allegedly damage merchandise, remove internal components and return the altered products in exchange for new items.
Officers conducted an extensive multijurisdictional investigation involving the Sacramento Police Department, the Placer County District Attorney’s Office, and others to execute residential search warrants in cities ranging from Baldwin Park in Southern California to Hayward in the Bay Area.
Officers recovered $307,000 in stolen merchandise, seized $59,000 in cash and removed 12 firearms. Multiple arrests were made in connection with this ongoing investigation.