CHP recovers $700K in stolen goods; Pittsburg man arrested

PITTSBURG, Calif. – The California Freeway Patrol on Wednesday mentioned they recovered $715,000 in stolen items taken from a mess of shops and arrested a 45-year-old Pittsburg man on suspicion of organized retail theft and conspiracy.

Julio Cuellar, 45, was booked into Solano County Jail, the CHP mentioned.

Whereas looking a house in Pittsburg together with a storage facility, the CHP mentioned they discovered packing containers and luggage of merchandise from CVS Well being, Goal, RiteAid, Safeway, Sunglass Hut, Macy’s, Whole Wine and Extra, Lululemon, and extra.

The CHP posted images of the haul on Fb. 

Retail theft has been a big downside throughout the nation and in California.

Whereas shoplifting has been a rising downside, latest large-scale thefts in California and elsewhere through which teams of people openly rush into shops and take items in plain sight are “elevating it to an entire new degree,”  California Retailers Affiliation President and CEO Rachel Michelin mentioned final December. 

Nationwide retail teams final 12 months estimated the annual losses to be within the tens of billions of {dollars}. 

Some states’ lawyer generals are supporting a congressional invoice that will require extra prevention efforts by giant on-line marketplaces, the place consultants say lots of the stolen items are fenced.

The thefts have turn into a political problem as nicely, significantly in California, the place critics place blame on progressive insurance policies like Proposition 47, a poll measure accredited by 60% of state voters in 2014 that diminished sure theft and drug possession offenses from felonies to misdemeanors.

The Related Press contributed to this report. 

The CHP recovered $715,000 in stolen items taken from a mess of shops and arrested a 45-year-old Pittsburg man on suspicion of organized retail theft and conspiracy. CHP photograph: May11, 2022 

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