Hayward Home Depot worker arrested for stealing merchandise as part of retail theft scheme

HAYWARD -- California Highway Patrol investigators have arrested a Hayward Home Depot worker suspected of stealing merchandise from the store as part of an organized retail theft scheme, the CHP announced Thursday.

The CHP Golden Gate Division said in a Facebook post its Organized Retail Crime Task Force was contacted by the store's loss prevention investigators on March 1 about several thefts committed by a store employee while working after hours. The store investigators also provided the CHP task force with surveillance video of the employee and the vehicle used in several of the incidents, the CHP said.

Home Depot estimated the loss from the stolen merchandise in excess of $300,000.

On Tuesday, CHP investigators arrested the unidentified employee at the Home Depot on the 21000 block of Hesperian Blvd. Other CHP units served a search warrant at the employee's home in Patterson, Stanislaus County where some 600 stolen items were recovered with an estimated value of $80,000. Investigators also seized nearly $90,000 in cash believed to be proceeds from the sale of the stolen goods.

The employee was booked into the Alameda County Jail on charges of organized retail crime, grand theft, possession of stolen property, and conspiracy.

In:
• Retail Theft