Serial Bay Area shoplifter arrested 90 times
PLEASANT HILL, Calif. (KRON) — With handcuffs around his wrists, December started out typical for Jesse Leonardo Otero. Getting nabbed by police for shoplifting is part of Otero’s regular routine.
The habitual serial shoplifter looked surprised during his most recent arrest in Pleasant Hill, however, when something out-of-the-ordinary happened. A KRON4 news reporter held up a camera and asked, “Jesse, don’t you get sick of getting arrested?”
Otero, 44, appeared to be at a loss for words, other than spewing vulgarities at the reporter. “What the f**k?” he said.
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Otero has been arrested 90 times over the years. The homeless man is well known to law enforcement officers, and like other repeat offenders, he survives by stealing from stores.
Otero is a troubled man who supports his drug addiction by trespassing, shoplifting, and selling stolen property, police said. He repeatedly steals from familiar victims, a lengthy rap sheet shows. He targets small businesses, big-box stores, or whatever is convenient.
When KRON4 found Otero in Pleasant Hill December 8, police officers were busy arresting him at Crossroads Shopping Center.
Just hours earlier that same day, he had been released from Martinez Detention Facility jail on misdemeanor charges.
The serial shoplifter’s victims stretch across the Bay Area. He uses BART trains to get around, police said. Richmond, Pinole, El Cerrito, Walnut Creek, Concord, Pleasant Hill, Danville, and Albany: Wherever BART goes, so can Otero.
Store managers told KRON4 that they also know Otero by first name and he usually steals hundreds of dollars worth of products. “Since we started knowing who he was, we would call him out by name and say, ‘Jesse — you’re not allowed to be here,'” store manager Daisy Ernst said.
Ernst works at Five Little Monkeys toy store in Albany. She has reported Otero to police more than 20 times. “He makes himself as hidden as he can, and he goes around the store and starts putting stuff in his pockets. Basically anything he can take, he will,” she said.
Under California’s laws, thieves can count on serving almost no time behind bars before they’re back on the streets, ready to steal again.
Otero is usually cited and released. Sometimes he is arrested, booked into jail, and released from jail.
It’s unclear how may days Otero has spent in a jailcell over the years. But he is behind bars right now. Otero declined KRON4’s request for a jailhouse interview.
Otero’s petty theft record and revolving jail doors are products of a California law passed by voters in 2014 under Proposition 47. The law weakened penalties for illicit drug use, petty thefts, and shoplifting. Crimes that were once felonies are now classified as misdemeanors or an infraction. The threshold for prosecutors to file a felony shoplifting charge increased from $400 to $950.
When Otero steals, it’s taxing on the victims and tedious on police officers. But he almost never steals more than $950 worth of products. As a result, he basically gets away with it, Pleasant Hill police officer Jacob Williams said.
Williams told KRON4, “Prop 47 took away one of the main tools for shoplifting that was used pretty frequently – that being (penal code) 666. So, prior convictions or other instances of shoplift were used to ensure that this person was actually booked into jail.”
Williams continued, “Nowadays, with the way that the filing standards have changed and the law is written, if it’s a petty theft under $950, he’s given the same ticket that you would get for running a stop sign. So that person is no longer booked into jail based off the shoplift alone — even if we are aware of prior convictions on his criminal history.
On November 21, Otero was busted in Concord after he stole from Sunvalley Mall, police said. He attempted to flee from patrol officers by running onto Interstate-680. California Highway Patrol officers blocked traffic, allowing officers to enter the freeway and detain Otero.
The day after Thanksgiving, Otero was caught stealing from Danville Bike store in Danville. Store owner Jose Gutierrez said the thief left with $340 worth of items without paying.
“It doesn’t matter whether you steal $10, or $100. All this stuff adds up. By the end of the year, you have a big loss. And for small businesses, I mean, we’re trying to survive,” Gutierrez told KRON4.
California district attorneys can consolidate cases for repeated crimes into one case. In Otero’s case, the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office recently filed a consolidated 31-count misdemeanor complaint against Otero, combining 31 arrests in 2023 into one case.
His misdemeanor jury trial is scheduled for the last week of 2023.
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