California Highway Patrol’s (CHP) Organized Retail Crime Task Force (ORCTF) shut down a retail crime ring in Southern California last week, uncovering over $143,000 in stolen goods in the process.
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CHP’s Border Division announced that an investigation into 10 incidents of theft at Burlington and T.J. Maxx stores in Orange County and Los Angeles County led officers to four suspects who they said had stolen a massive volume of fashion products like apparel, handbags, footwear and luggage.
Through its investigation, CHP discovered that Victor Manuel Marcos Marino, Maria Isabel Orozco Cadena, Elena Huezo and Jose Aurelio Diaz Magana, known in police parlance as “boosters,” committed crimes worth about $10,000 between the dates of Aug. 24 and Sept. 27. Boosters are known to shoplift with the intent of unloading items through “fence” operations —individuals or consortiums tasked with reselling them for a profit.
“It was a group of four individuals…they worked together, and they had 10 confirmed thefts from T.J.Maxx stores in Orange County as well as Los Angeles County, and they would work in tandem,” Lieutenant Mike Monteagudo of CHP’s Border Division told Sourcing Journal.
“When they stole the luggage, they would actually stuff the luggage with other merchandise, such as clothes, shoes and purses,” he added. Once the suitcases were loaded up, they’d walk out of the store. With retail crimes becoming increasingly violent in recent years, many retailers now instruct associates to take a “hands-off” policy when it comes to shoplifting.
Monteagudo said the volume of product recovered—which was valued at $143,746—far exceeds the charges for grand theft, and all suspects in custody are now facing felony charges. The suspects targeted a number of the off-price retailers’ locations across the Southern California counties. It was TJX, the parent company of T.J. Maxx , that came to CHP with information about the case that jumpstarted the investigation, he added.
Two addresses in Anaheim and Bloomington, Calif. were associated with the suspects in this case, and officers confirmed that the stolen goods passed through those locations. On Oct. 14, CHP investigators executed multiple search warrants and arrested the four suspects in Anaheim, booking them into the Orange County Jail, where they await trial by the Orange County District Attorney’s office.
It is believed that the location in Bloomington served as the “fence” house—where product was stored before it was sold—though the individuals associated with the fencing operation are still under investigation.
When it comes to organized retail crime syndicates, the lieutenant said, “Although it’s property crime, they do operate like your more sophisticated criminal organizations, such as gangs and cartels.”
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A boss or a ringleader heading a fencing operation calls the shots on what boosters should steal, with products like clothing, handbags, cosmetics, perfume and power tools among the more requested items. There’s a high demand for such goods, Monteagudo said—and fences are using a variety of channels to dispense the stolen items to shoppers. “They could be sold at a mom-and-pop swap meet or at a wholesale store,” or even out of homes, he added.
When the CHP’s ORCTF was founded in 2019, the physical sale of stolen goods was most common. “It wasn’t until maybe the past couple of years that we’ve seen a lot more online marketplaces being used,” he said. Platforms like eBay , OfferUp and Facebook Marketplace have been infiltrated by legions of illicit sellers.
California has been keen to tamp down the growing risks posed by online marketplaces —and the opportunities they afford bad actors.
In 2022, the state passed SB 301, its own, localized take on the federal INFORM Consumers Act , which mandates that marketplaces verify the identities of high-volume third-party sellers on their sites. Any seller that makes 200 or more sales during a 12-month period totaling $5,000 or more in gross revenues within California must turn over a copy of their government issued ID or tax document, a business tax identification number, an email address and a phone number.
In turn, marketplaces are required to suspend sellers that engage in fraudulent activity, with the threat of a stolen-goods penalty worth $10,000 per violation hanging over their heads.
And in August of this year, the Golden State doubled down on those efforts with the passage of SB 1144. Bolstering the provisions of SB 301, the law, also sponsored by State Senator Nancy Skinner, expands the scope of liability beyond the transactions processed by online marketplaces.
According to Skinner, the law will close a loophole that fencers have been exploiting: advertising products on web marketplaces and completing the sales through other platforms. This has allowed them to evade detection by marketplaces’ seller verification processes while still using them to advertise stolen goods online. The law will take effect on July 1, 2025.
According to California Governor Gavin Newsom, such efforts—along with increased funding for CHP—are making a dent in the state’s growing organized retail crime problem. As of September, CHP’s ORCTF has made 1,055 arrests and recovered nearly $8 million in stolen property in 2024.
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