RIVERBANK, Calif. — Seven people were arrested in Riverbank in connection to an organized retail theft ring, stretching across parts of the state.
Sgt. Luke Schwartz, spokesperson for the Stanislaus County Sheriff's Office, said the bust happened Wednesday afternoon in a shopping center with stores such as Target, Ulta and Kohl's. Deputies were able to recover around $12,000 to $20,000 in merchandise that was loaded into two different cars.
He said the crew hit other areas previously as well, going as far as Sacramento and Los Angeles.
The bust came about thanks, in part, to an eagle-eyed detective.
"Our detective took it upon himself to conduct an extra patrol in the parking lot. (The detective) Noticed something that was out of out of the ordinary, couple of vehicles that were suspiciously parked near the entrance and exit of one of the retail stores, saw the vehicle still running, it was backed into a parking stall, driver still had his foot on the brake, and noticed some suspicious individuals go in and out of the store," said Sgt. Schwartz.
After coordinating a response with loss prevention, seven people were brought into custody and thousands in merchandise was recovered.
"It turned out that there was a crew of comprised of seven individuals who are out of the Los Angeles area, where they're committing acts of organized, organized retail theft, and they were found to be in possession of thousands of dollars worth of stolen property in their vehicle and on their person," said Sgt. Schwartz.
While the figures for the merchandise recovered is in its early stages, the bust is still considered a substantial one.
"Again, a pretty substantial amount of theft. You're talking about a contact that took a matter of minutes," said Sgt. Schwartz.
It's the latest bust in a very busy six weeks for the sheriff's office and Riverbank Police Services. Sgt. Schwartz said Riverbank Police Services has address 54 incidents of shoplifting and theft since Nov. 1. It's resulted in 44 arrests, all of which were different individuals.
"I want to just applaud the efforts of our deputies and detectives up in Riverbank. They've been getting inundated with so many calls for service in the last few weeks. But I also tip my hat to them, establishing those partnerships with the loss prevention officers, as well as our task force partners. We're trying to keep things as as safe as pleasant for everybody who's out there," said Sgt. Schwartz.
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