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Bay Area district attorneys form alliance against organized retail theft

Gov. Gavin Newsom calls for greater CHP presence following string of robberies

In response to recent organized theft schemes seen across the Bay Area this week, seven Bay Area district attorneys created an alliance to ensure suspects face proper accountability, San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe announced Tuesday evening.

(Stock image)

The district attorneys from Contra Costa, Alameda, San Francisco, Marin, San Joaquin and Santa Clara counties say they want to put their heads together and share crime data across district lines to ensure suspects are fully held accountable. The prosecutors also pledged to keep communications with retail stores and state agencies during the process.

"The recent premeditated retail theft mob action in multiple cities across Northern California is intolerable and will not be accepted by District Attorneys, law enforcement officials and our community members," Wagstaffe said in a statement. "Anyone caught engaging in such criminal conduct should expect to find themselves facing prosecution, conviction and incarceration. There is no leniency for such behavior."

This weekend, organized crime stints occurred in San Francisco, Walnut Creek, Hayward, Oakland and San Jose.

A few of the reported retail events from local law enforcement: Downtown San Francisco's Louis Vuitton store was reportedly cleared out by 20 to 40 people on Friday evening. One Walnut Creek Nordstrom store was said to have lost over $200,000 in merchandise on Saturday evening. Forty to 50 people stole an estimated $40,000 in athletic apparel from a Lululemon store in San Jose on Sunday.

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"These are clearly carefully orchestrated crimes, working together in large groups to create a mob-like mentality," said Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O'Malley in a statement. "They are instilling fear in merchants, customers and the wider community. This is especially appalling at a time where many are out and about during the holiday season. Be assured that those caught and arrested will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law."

Gov. Gavin Newsom requested for greater California Highway Patrol presence earlier this week, in belief that these robberies may be interconnected. The governor said he wanted accountability in the form of prosecution.

"We are going to be more aggressive still in this space to help support cities and the prosecution of folks," Newsom said in a statement on Monday. "I have no sympathy, no empathy whatsoever for people smashing and grabbing, stealing people's items, creating havoc and terror on our streets ... they must be held to account."

Just on Tuesday, San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin also charged nine people in relation to the Louis Vuitton break-in; three of which are said to have been involved in a Friday night cannabis dispensary burglary and one connected to a separate theft at Walgreen's.

"Collaboration and shared strategies with neighboring prosecutors and law enforcement partners are critical to both preventing and responding to organized retail theft," Boudin said in a statement. "This alliance of prosecutors is committed to developing strategies to combat these organized crimes. Together, we are determined to stop those who participate in organized retail theft, including by dismantling the fencing networks that make this type of crime profitable."

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Bay Area district attorneys form alliance against organized retail theft

Gov. Gavin Newsom calls for greater CHP presence following string of robberies

by Olivia Wynkoop / BCN Foundation /

Uploaded: Wed, Nov 24, 2021, 10:56 am
Updated: Thu, Nov 25, 2021, 8:15 pm

In response to recent organized theft schemes seen across the Bay Area this week, seven Bay Area district attorneys created an alliance to ensure suspects face proper accountability, San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe announced Tuesday evening.

The district attorneys from Contra Costa, Alameda, San Francisco, Marin, San Joaquin and Santa Clara counties say they want to put their heads together and share crime data across district lines to ensure suspects are fully held accountable. The prosecutors also pledged to keep communications with retail stores and state agencies during the process.

"The recent premeditated retail theft mob action in multiple cities across Northern California is intolerable and will not be accepted by District Attorneys, law enforcement officials and our community members," Wagstaffe said in a statement. "Anyone caught engaging in such criminal conduct should expect to find themselves facing prosecution, conviction and incarceration. There is no leniency for such behavior."

This weekend, organized crime stints occurred in San Francisco, Walnut Creek, Hayward, Oakland and San Jose.

A few of the reported retail events from local law enforcement: Downtown San Francisco's Louis Vuitton store was reportedly cleared out by 20 to 40 people on Friday evening. One Walnut Creek Nordstrom store was said to have lost over $200,000 in merchandise on Saturday evening. Forty to 50 people stole an estimated $40,000 in athletic apparel from a Lululemon store in San Jose on Sunday.

"These are clearly carefully orchestrated crimes, working together in large groups to create a mob-like mentality," said Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O'Malley in a statement. "They are instilling fear in merchants, customers and the wider community. This is especially appalling at a time where many are out and about during the holiday season. Be assured that those caught and arrested will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law."

Gov. Gavin Newsom requested for greater California Highway Patrol presence earlier this week, in belief that these robberies may be interconnected. The governor said he wanted accountability in the form of prosecution.

"We are going to be more aggressive still in this space to help support cities and the prosecution of folks," Newsom said in a statement on Monday. "I have no sympathy, no empathy whatsoever for people smashing and grabbing, stealing people's items, creating havoc and terror on our streets ... they must be held to account."

Just on Tuesday, San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin also charged nine people in relation to the Louis Vuitton break-in; three of which are said to have been involved in a Friday night cannabis dispensary burglary and one connected to a separate theft at Walgreen's.

"Collaboration and shared strategies with neighboring prosecutors and law enforcement partners are critical to both preventing and responding to organized retail theft," Boudin said in a statement. "This alliance of prosecutors is committed to developing strategies to combat these organized crimes. Together, we are determined to stop those who participate in organized retail theft, including by dismantling the fencing networks that make this type of crime profitable."

Comments

Malcolm Hex
Registered user
San Ramon
on Nov 25, 2021 at 10:45 am
Malcolm Hex, San Ramon
Registered user
on Nov 25, 2021 at 10:45 am

So, the one stooge, that being governor nuisance, all of a sudden wants the law enforced to curb the current lawlessness that is going around these parts lately. This coming from the same clown who releases violent felons on early parole.

The other stooge, that being comrade boudin from San Francisco, the one who appears to talk out both sides of his mouth, now wants the law enforced in his city. All this coming from the same clown who does not believe in cash bail.

What a joke.


Paul Clark
Registered user
Danville
on Nov 26, 2021 at 10:39 am
Paul Clark, Danville
Registered user
on Nov 26, 2021 at 10:39 am

Can't argue with you Malcolm Hex on this one! Make no mistake about it, the citizens of Contra Costa County will suffer physical harm or worse, if our law enforcement entities, collectively, do not develop a strategy to deal with these lawless people that is proactive, not reactive. While I'm very glad that Danville PD "got there in time" and made an arrest, that is still a reactive strategy. If it were not for the kidnapping and armed car jacking charges, the perp would be out on the street today. We need our legislature ( and I use that term loosely ) to rescind the law that makes theft of property of a value of less than $960.00 a misdemeanor, and return these crimes to being felonies. And that they should also be returned to being crimes requiring bail.


Paul Clark
Registered user
Danville
on Nov 27, 2021 at 3:27 pm
Paul Clark, Danville
Registered user
on Nov 27, 2021 at 3:27 pm

Well it didn't take long for someone to die as a consequence of these smash and grab looting parties.

From another news source:

"Oakland security guard dies after the grandfather of three was shot while protecting a TV crew reporting on scourge of smash-and-grab looting in Bay Area
Kevin Nishita, a former police officer, was shot in the lower abdomen while protecting KRON4's news team from armed robbers on Wednesday
One of 12 masked thieves at the Prome 356 store tried to snatch the camera from the reporters when Nishita jumped in and got shot.
KRON4, its parent company, Nishita's employer and the Oakland Police Department are offering a $32,500 reward for information on the suspects.
The TV station mourned the guard, a father of two and grandfather of three
It is the latest in a saga of organized robbery rampaging across California. "


Malcolm Hex
Registered user
San Ramon
on Dec 5, 2021 at 9:19 am
Malcolm Hex, San Ramon
Registered user
on Dec 5, 2021 at 9:19 am

The East Bay Times reported in Becton’s plagiarized application to become interim DA that she “took more than 100 words from a widely publicized letter written by U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris, D-California, and U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, regarding criminal justice reform.”

She also cut and pasted portions from neighboring Alameda County’s District Attorney’s website regarding the issue of community development.

Do you think Soros is seeking to undermine traditional American values?

Other text came word-for-word from a March 1994 issue of Harvard Business Review. Even a direct quote from Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream” Speech made it into her application, which read, “When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was an heir.”

In all, at least seven portions of her application were plagiarized from others’ words, which were chronicled in an anonymous letter sent to multiple media outlets.

Web Link



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