Police break up Bay Area theft ring
Months-long probe uncovers sophisticated operation
Gucci and Louis Vuitton apparel. Veuve Clicquot Champagne. Dozens of smartphones and hundreds of other pricey pickings.
Law enforcement officers at San Francisco police headquarters on Thursday displayed the high-end loot while announcing the takedown of a major criminal enterprise that for months ripped off downtown businesses and sold the merchandise around the country.
The sweeping bust, dubbed “Operation Wrecking Ball,” was a multiagency effort coordinated by the San Francisco Police Department, Sheriff ’s Office, district attorney’s office, California Highway Patrol, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and UCSF police.
“We will never eliminate all property crime, but we know that by going after these organized groups we can have an impact, not only on the quality of life in our community but in crime in general,” District Attorney George Gascón said.
The eight-month investigation yielded 40 fugitive suspects, 12 of whom were arrested when police recently served search warrants in San Francisco and Daly City, authorities said.
Police recovered $300,000 in boosted loot. But officials
estimate the crime ring is responsible for nearly $750,000 in thefts.
The operation involved thieves looting downtown San Francisco retail businesses, homes and vehicles, officials said. Stolen goods would then be brought to places like UN Plaza on Market Street, where the items would change hands to others who sold them around the region, state and country.
Operation Wrecking Ball led investigators to places as far away as Houston, Seattle and Los Angeles, San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott said.
“Big and small businesses are hit hard financially by these thefts, which often endanger employees and discourage law-abiding customers,” he said.
Rather than going after individuals one at a time, the Police Department and the district attorney’s Crime Strategies Unit conducted undercover surveillance operations and used video evidence to build more consequential cases against the suspects.
“These people are ambush-style stealing from retail partners in the Bay Area and in downtown San Francisco, and then they’re fencing them all over the United States,” said Frank Carrubba, head of the Crime Strategies Unit. “What they’re doing is working very concerted to transport these products. These aren’t unsophisticated people.”
Gov. Jerry Brown and the CHP allocated resources to the task force, which helped intercept some of the stolen goods as they were transported in vehicles out of San Francisco.
The law enforcement operation was reminiscent of the rainbow crew busts of 2016, when more than a dozen suspects were arrested and charged with takeoverstyle thefts at high-end retail stores in and around San Francisco’s Union Square.