Amid an increase in smash-and-grab thefts targeting Southern California retailers, a bust operation led to the arrests of 41 suspects.
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies conducted retail theft patrols at various stores including Target, Walmart, Macy’s Ulta Beauty and Ross Dress For Less.
During the operations, 41 suspects were arrested and over $10,000 worth of stolen merchandise was recovered.
Photos of the busts released by authorities show the thieves being cornered by deputies, some of whom were still holding the stolen merchandise as they attempted to leave the store.
“Since the inception of our task force, we have arrested 438 suspects to retail theft and 309 cases have been successfully filed,” said Capt. Rob Peacock of LASD’s Major Crimes Bureau.
The retail theft task force was created in August 2023 to stop the rising number of “flash mob” style thefts targeting retailers across SoCal.
The task force involves the L.A. Police Department, L.A. County Sheriff’s Department, California Highway Patrol, police in Glendale, Beverly Hills, Burbank, Santa Monica, agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and U.S. Marshals Service, city and county prosecutors, and the state Attorney General’s office.
“These individuals need to understand that there will be consequences — we will use all our resources to identify, pursue and arrest these suspects,” Peacock said. “We are not only focused on the individuals responsible for the thefts but also those that are in the criminal chain — the getaway drivers, those that harbor them and those that sell the stolen merchandise.”
Anyone with information on retail theft crimes is asked to call Lt. Michael Comas at 818-374-9420 or orc@lapd.online or Lt. Derek White at 562-946-7270 or orctf@lasd.org.