Megan Cassidy is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. “Ultimately, consumers pay the cost of this merchandise hijacking,” Becerra said. Retail thefts cost California businesses millions and leave them prone to copycat criminals, the attorney general noted. The San Luis Obispo Police Department and Oakland Police Department led the investigation, along with the assistance of several law enforcement agencies across the state, officials said. They fled in a black Mercedes-Benz waiting out front.Īuthorities have not confirmed which stores the suspects are being charged with robbing. 29, police said, three men in hoodies ran off with $35,000 worth of electronics from the store in the Santa Rosa Plaza, an indoor mall near the city’s downtown.įour days earlier, thieves rushed into Walnut Creek’s Apple Store at Broadway Plaza and made off with $30,000 worth of iPhones and laptops from displays in the store, police said. “We don’t comment on matters of security,” Leahy said.Īpple thieves hit the Bay Area hard in August, striking stores in Santa Rosa, Walnut Creek, Emeryville and Corte Madera. He wouldn’t confirm or deny the company’s rumored “kill switch,” which can supposedly disable stolen devices, or any other antitheft measures.

The complaint does not list the exact location, but the East Bay Times reported a snatch and grab involving six to eight suspects at an Emeryville Apple store on this date.Īpple spokesman Nick Leahy declined to comment on the arrests and referred questions to the state Department of Justice. Officials say more than $60,000 worth of merchandise was stolen from an Apple store at that time. They’re all charged with commercial burglary and second-degree commercial burglary for an alleged Sept. They were identified as Leo David Smith, Joshua Jamal Cole, Nahom Ephrem Yemane, Cody Stewart, Antoine Derell Johnson, Branson Golden, Yoshua Neshun Barker, Taye Duran Davis, Jeral Wimberly and Jeremi Hanks. There were 10 suspects named in Alameda County charging documents, including two who apparently also were charged in Fresno. Prosecutors are charging the five with conspiracy to commit grand theft and grand theft of personal property after officials said they stole more than $25,000 worth of property from the Apple store at Fashion Fair Mall in Fresno on July 7. The suspects charged in Fresno County were identified as Leo David Smith III, Leo David Smith IV, Yoshua Neshon Barker, Armon Darzell James and Kennith Martin Jr., according to court documents. Charges for conspiracy to commit grand theft were filed against suspects in Fresno, Santa Clara and Alameda counties.Īrrest warrants were issued for nine other suspects, Becerra said. Officials on Thursday didn’t specify the number of robberies, but at the beginning of the month KGO-TV counted at least 21 “grab-and-run” thefts since mid-May across the state.īecerra said seven adults were arrested Tuesday and booked in Alameda County jail, and another suspect is in custody in Sonoma County. In suburban Chicago, 14 people barged into a Louis Vuitton store last week and fled with more than $100,000 in handbags and other merchandise, according to CNN affiliate WLS, citing Oak Brook police.ĬNN’s Andy Rose and Stella Chan contributed to this report.The blitz hits - often captured on surveillance footage - followed a familiar pattern: A group of suspects would storm into stores as unsuspecting customers browsed items, rip merchandise from tabled chargers and sprint out to a getaway car. In Oakland last weekend, “armed roving caravans … targeted dozens of businesses, including pharmacies, retail shops and a large number of cannabis operations,” Oakland police said in a news release. We care about our Associates and the communities we serve and we value their differences. From Business: Visit the Apple Store to shop for Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and more. In San Francisco on Friday night, a Walgreens and cannabis dispensaries were robbed in a similar fashion, in addition to a Louis Vuitton store, a Burberry store, a jewelry store and a Bloomingdale’s, San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott said at a news conference Saturday. Welcome to Ross Stores, Inc., where our differences make us stronger At Ross and dd’s, inclusion is a way of life.

Not all targets have been high-end stores. And east of San Francisco, three suspects were arrested Saturday night after a mob of about 80 people ransacked a Nordstrom department store in Walnut Creek, police said. In the San Francisco Bay Area, a group of thieves swarmed the Southland Mall in Hayward on Sunday evening, wielding hammers to smash cases at a jewelry store before grabbing items and fleeing. On Monday, at least 18 people broke into a Nordstrom department store at the Grove in Los Angeles and stole thousands of dollars in merchandise, LAPD Chief Michel Moore said. The thefts come amid a recent wave of burglaries in which several or many thieves strike a store at once. An image from surveillance footage at an Apple Store in Santa Rosa, California.

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