CHP retail theft task force recovers $450,000 in stolen goods from Oakland fencing operation
A California Highway Patrol retail theft task force recovered nearly a half-million dollars in stolen merchandise from a home in Oakland and arrested a resident following a month-long investigation, the agency said Friday.
In July CHP investigators began a probe into a criminal network responsible for a string of retail thefts targeting various retailers throughout the Bay Area, the CHP's Golden Gate Division Organized Retail Crime Taskforce (ORCTF) said in a press statement.
Investigators identified suspects in an illicit fencing operation based in an Oakland home after conducting surveillance operations, the CHP said. After obtaining search warrants, CHP investigators and San Ramon police officers raided the home on August 15 and searched two vehicles, recovering a large amount of stolen merchandise, the CHP said.
After learning the suspect was leasing a storage facility in Oakland, investigators obtained an additional search warrant and discovered additional stolen merchandise inside the storage unit, according to the CHP. Retail partners involved in the operation valued the recovered merchandise, mostly items found at drug stores, at over $450,000.
Investigators arrested 35-year-old Oakland resident Claudia Cruz of Oakland for her involvement in the fencing operation. She was booked into Alameda County Jail on charges of organized retail crime, possession of stolen property, and conspiracy to commit a crime.
The task force arrest comes one week after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a package of bills targeting organized retail theft and other property crimes that include stricter punishments for repeat offenders. Newsom began the CHP retail theft task force in 2019 in Southern California and has expanded to the Bay Area and other parts of the state.
The Governor's Office said last week that since the task force's inception, the CHP has arrested more than 2,900 suspects and recovered over $45 million worth of stolen assets.