Eight Arrested in $1 Million Retail Theft Scheme Targeting Apple Stores in California
Eight suspects were arrested in connection to stealing merchandise worth $1 million, primarily from Apple stores. State Attorney General Rob Bonta announced February 9.
The alleged Retail theft operation occurred between August 2022 and January 2023—in several counties across the state, including Yolo, Monterey, Alameda, Santa Clara, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, Orange, San Bernardino, San DiegoRiverside, and.
According to the release, the suspects would allegedly enter stores and hold employees and customers in order to steal merchandise. “including numerous phones and tablets worth thousands of dollars from each location.”
“Organized retail theft costs businesses, retailers, and consumers – and puts the public at risk,” Bonta stated in a Press release. “Brazen criminal activity … will not be tolerated in California. … With these charges, we’re moving forward to hold these defendants accountable.”
The suspects, who were not identified in the press release, face charges of conspiracy to commit retail theft, organized retail theft, grand theft, theft in the amount over $500,000, and an aggravated white-collar enhancement, according to the Attorney General’s Office.
The arrests were a result of the California Highway Patrol’s partnerships with multiple law enforcement agencies.
Retailers in California and across the U.S. have been facing an ongoing challenge from organized retail crime, according to the Attorney General’s Office.
A Survey According to the National Retail Federation, U.S. retail stores are at risk of losing approximately $700,000.
Retail losses in the US: Nearly $100 billion
According to the retail federation’s more recent Report September 2022Organized crime groups target retail theft to make a profit. They focus on items that are easily concealable, portable, available, valuable and enjoyable. These characteristics are more likely to be stolen than items that lack them.
Retail losses were estimated at “retail shrink,” Fraud, theft and other criminal activities increased to $94.5 Billion in 2021, compared to $90.8 Billion the year before.
These criminal groups target the top products categories, including apparel, jewelry, electronics, appliances, accessories and food and beverages, as well as home furnishings and homewares, home improvements items, footwear and eyewear, baby care products and office supplies.
The top five cities with the highest incidence of organized retail theft in the United States were Los Angeles and San Francisco, Oakland, New York, Houston, Miami, and Houston.
“These highly sophisticated criminal rings jeopardize employee and customer safety and disrupt store operations. Retailers are bolstering security efforts to counteract these increasingly dangerous and aggressive criminal activities,” the federation’s Vice President for Research Development and Industry Analysis Mark Mathews said in a statement last year.
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