As businesses face ‘nightmare,’ Sacramento DA vows prosecution of organized retail theft
The Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office announced Tuesday the creation of a dedicated unit focused on prosecuting thieves repeatedly stealing high-value items in organized retail theft crime rings.
District Attorney Thien Ho said one deputy district attorney and an investigator will collaborate with law enforcement to prosecute retail theft affecting big and small businesses alike. The team — already operating for about two months — has submitted 35 cases, Ho said at a news conference while flanked by capital region authorities, as well as trade groups representing businesses.
Retailers and law enforcement have repeatedly raised concerns about so-called smash-and-grab robberies, which are caught on video and often garnering millions of views on social media. The repeated outcry from businesses and residents has led the Legislature to introduce several bills that aim to stem retail theft as well as the creation of a special select committee in the Assembly focusing on finding solutions.
“When you see how theft is fueling our fentanyl crisis and our unhoused crisis, we need to talk about retail theft,” Ho said outside the south Sacramento Walmart on Florin Road and Stockton Boulevard.
Deputy District Attorney Adrienne McMillan and an D.A.’s Office investigator will engage in “vertical prosecution” during which the Ho’s office will work with law enforcement from the incident’s beginning to identify a suspect and then file a case. Ho said the cases become complex, requiring further investigation, because a criminal turns around and attempts to resell an item.
“The purpose of having (vertical prosecution) ... is being able to see the trends that are coming in, the same type of people coming in,” McMillan said.
The Board of State and Community Corrections awarded the District Attorney’s Office just over $2 million grant to fund the unit through 2027.
McMillan’s caseload has a narrow focus — she will not be focusing on crimes filed under Proposition 47. The ballot referendum, approved by voters in 2014, changed some nonviolent property crimes costing less than $950 theft as misdemeanors and drew heaping scrutiny from law enforcement as too lenient.
The provisions in California’s penal code most applicable to prosecuting crimes under the District Attorney’s newest unit is Section 490.4. It revolves around addressing “organized retail theft,” which involves multiple people acting in concert to steal, McMillan said. Prosecutors filed six cases under 490.4 in 2021 and 20 cases in 2022, according to the District Attorney’s Office application for the BSCC grant.
McMillan added cases could also be filed under grand theft and conspiracy statutes.
“It will just be a learning process,” McMillan said.
The Public Policy Institute of California said shoplifting rates across the state were lower in 2022, the latest year figures were available, than in 2019 — as more people shopped at stores before the pandemic. The commercial burglary rate and robbery rate, however, rose 13% in 2022 compared to 2019, PPIC said.
Attendees said incidents at big-box retailers make headlines but theft at small establishments are ignored. Event speakers included Sacramento County Sheriff Jim Cooper, Sacramento Police Chief Kathy Lester, an official from the California Retailers Association and California Highway Patrol Valley Division Chief Mike Dust.
Bobbie Singh-Allen, Elk Grove’s mayor and the president of the American Petroleum and Convenience Store Association, said merchandise costing thousands of dollars is stolen from stores and violence keeps escalating.
“They came to this great state of California for a chance at the American Dream,” Singh-Allen said of her members who are convenience store and gas station owners. “But that American Dream is becoming a nightmare.”
