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Alleged California shoplifters shocked to learn stealing now a felony: 'B—h new laws'

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Alleged California shoplifters shocked to learn stealing now a felony: 'B—h new laws'

Police in California released a video of a trio of alleged shoplifters who were shocked to find out that the penalty for their crime had recently changed. 

In the viral surveillance video shared by the Seal Beach Police Department on Sunday, three women can be seen walking into an Ulta Beauty store, browsing the shelves, then casually exiting the business with what police said was nearly $650 worth of stolen merchandise.

“… a friendly reminder that Proposition 36, which increases punishments for some retail theft and drug possession offenses, went into effect Wednesday morning in California,” the Seal Beach Police Department wrote in the caption of the video on their Instagram account.

The video shows the women entering a Kohls store and allegedly stealing more merchandise, totaling nearly $1,000 in stolen goods.

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An alleged shoplifter was shocked to find out some shoplifting offenses are now considered a felony in California. (Seal Beach Police Department)

Bodycam video then shows police officers chasing after the women and ultimately arresting them.

“It’s a felony?” one of the women asks the other in the back of the patrol car.

“B—h new laws,” the woman responds. “Stealing is a felony and this Orange County b—h. They don’t play.”

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The women were caught on camera swiping goods from several California businesses, police said. (Seal Beach Police Department)

The women were later identified by police as Destiny Bender, 24, and Deanna Hines, 24, both from Long Beach, and Michelle Pitts, 26, of Signal Hill.

All three individuals were booked into the Orange County Jail on charges of Grand Theft, Conspiracy to Commit a Crime and Resisting Arrest.

Police shared a friendly reminder along with the video.

“It undoes some of the changes voters made with a 2014 ballot measure that turned certain nonviolent felonies into misdemeanors, effectively shortening prison sentences and leading to a spike in retail theft and crime,” police said. “Here in Seal Beach we never believed in the cite and release program, but this new proposition only strengthens our commitment to combatting Organized Retail Theft. Remember folks, don’t steal in Seal.”

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Proposition 36, the Homelessness, Drug Addiction and Theft Reduction Act, sought to undo portions of Proposition 47 by increasing penalties for some crimes. It was overwhelmingly passed in California, reversing some billionaire George Soros-backed soft-on-crime policies.

THIEVES STEAL 2,500 PIES IN ODD FOOD HEIST GONE WRONG: ‘SO MUCH WASTE’

The alleged thieves were shocked to learn that they could be charged with a felony for stealing.  (Seal Beach Police Department)

When Proposition 47 passed in 2014, it downgraded most thefts from felonies to misdemeanors if the amount stolen was under $950, “unless the defendant had prior convictions of murder, rape, certain sex offenses, or certain gun crimes.”

Progressive Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón, backed by Soros, helped author Proposition 47, and lost his seat to challenger Nathan Hochman in November. 

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California Gov. Gavin Newsom remained adamantly opposed to the effort to undo portions of Proposition 47, saying it “takes us back to the 1980s, mass incarceration.”

Fox News Digital’s Jamie Joseph contributed to this report. 

Stepheny Price is writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business. Story tips and ideas can be sent to stepheny.price@fox.com

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Denver, CO

Trammell Crow, PCCP secure Denver area’s largest industrial lease in years

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Trammell Crow, PCCP secure Denver area’s largest industrial lease in years


Trammell Crow Company and PCCP inked a massive lease deal for a suburban Denver industrial complex that just began construction. 

The development giants landed an undisclosed tenant for a full building at Crossroads 25, a 76-acre industrial complex in Thornton set to encompass roughly 1.1 million square feet once complete, the Denver Business Journal reported. 

At nearly 410,000 square feet, the deal marks the largest industrial lease in the Denver area since 2024. 

Trammell Crow and PCCP purchased the land, at the northeast corner of Interstate 25 and E-470, from an affiliate of Omaha, Nebraska-based Noddle Companies for $18.9 million. Noddle purchased it in 2020 as part of a nearly 200-acre land acquisition for $19.5 million. 

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The development will eventually span 1.1 million square feet of industrial space. The first phase consists of 828,000 square feet across four buildings. The recent lease brings the four-building phase one to 49 percent leased.

CBRE’s Tyler Carner represented Noddle in the land sale. 

The Denver metro’s industrial market had a direct vacancy rate of 9.3 percent in the first quarter, according to JLL. More than 4 million square feet was under construction, and absorption was negative after hefty completions last year.

The first four buildings in Crossroads 25 are expected to be delivered in the third quarter of next year. The complex is projected to be fully complete in 2030. 

The previous industrial lease record in the Denver metro area was held by Georgia-based third-party logistics company BroadRange Logistics, which signed a long-term lease for more than 1.1 million square feet at the 76 Commerce Center industrial complex in Brighton. That property’s landlord, Hyde Development, filed suit against BroadRange last week, claiming the logistics firm defaulted on its leases, and Hyde is seeking more than $32 million in damages. 

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Chris Malone Méndez

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Blackstone Mortgage Trust buys Denver offices at discount for $34M

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Seattle, WA

Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson mayor ripped after unveiling fleet of tiny homes likened to porta-potty drug dens

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Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson mayor ripped after unveiling fleet of tiny homes likened to porta-potty drug dens


Progressive Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson is being ripped for unveiling a village of tiny homes being likened to porta-potties — with no rules stopping the homeless people who move in from doing drugs.

Wilson, 43, previewed 50 of the 70-square-foot units on Sunday — while readily conceding that she failed on her promise of having half of the 1,000 planned units ready in time for the World Cup, which starts Thursday.

The tiny units — barely bigger than a portable toilet, about the size of a jail cell and equipped with just a single bed and desk — cost $16,000 each to build, with those moving in sharing toilets and other facilities staffed 24/7.

Wilson, 43, previewed 50 of the 1,000-planned single-adult pallet homes on Sunday as part of the liberal city’s push to expand 24/7 transitional housing with wraparound services. AP Photo/Manuel Valdes

The woke mayor said the units are for homeless people suffering “complex problems related to substance abuse” or mental disorders — but without forcing them to seek help or even stay off the drugs that got them there.

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“The process of recovery is really complicated and difficult, and so, we’re not demanding that people be abstinent when they enter this village,” the Democratic socialist mayor said, according to KOMO.

“The goal is to help people successfully move from homelessness toward stability and housing; that’s exactly what this site is designed to do,” she vowed, without citing evidence.

Local advocates quickly ripped the plan, with many saying it will only make drug use more widespread there, raising the risks for anyone living nearby.

Andrea Suarez, founder of the homeless outreach organization We Heart Seattle, ridiculed the mayor’s program, saying that the drug use will add to widespread crime as “the bodies are piling up.”

“Drugs aren’t free,” she told Fox News of the “deadly” drugs like “super meth and fentanyl” that “will be allowed on this property.”

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Seattle’s lefty Mayor Katie Wilson was ripped online after unveiling a fleet of tiny homes for the homeless ahead of the World Cup. Getty Images

“So what do people have to do to fuel their addiction? They have to porch-prowl, smash and grab, retail theft, syphon gas … prostitution,” she predicted, saying locals will have to “be on lockdown.”

“It’s very hard to get better and seek treatment when the fox is guarding the henhouse,” she said, saying that the addicts will be surrounded by dealers and fellow users. “It’s very hard to get sober when everything makes you actually more comfortable being a drug addict.”

Other critics were wary of the state the homes could fall into without rules stopping them from becoming “overdose incubators.”

Digital critics also took aim at the micro-homes, comparing the tiny units to an outhouse and blasting them as “overdose incubators” that will reek of urine. AP Photo/Manuel Valdes
Residents of the 70-square-foot units are not required to undergo any behavioral or recovery treatment. AP Photo/Manuel Valdes

“Each one of these tiny houses will turn into a tiny outhouse. Good luck cleaning that human sewer up,” one naysayer fumed on X.

Another raged: “How much you willing to bet that within a year, all those tiny homes will be torn down crack houses smelling like heroin laced urine.”

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Another blasted: “Glad Katie could give drug dealers and criminals a home base for their crimes against the people of Seattle.”

Local advocates have raised concerns about potential drug use spiraling out of control. AP Photo/Manuel Valdes

“Dumb,” one critic slammed. “Now they just get to use drugs in those tiny homes. How about we get them off the drugs!!”

Wilson said an additional 25 sleeper units will be installed at the Bayside Enhanced Shelter by the end of June, with as many as 300 new pods expected citywide by summer’s end.

That still falls way short of her promise of 500 units in time for Seattle’s World Cup matches.

“Is it a failure not to have created 500 units by now? As long as there are thousands of people sleeping unsheltered on our streets, yes, we are failing,” the lefty mayor said defensively.

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San Diego, CA

San Diego City Council will vote on fiscal year 2027 budget

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San Diego City Council will vote on fiscal year 2027 budget


Following a lengthy and at times combative process, the San Diego City Council will vote Tuesday on the fiscal year 2026-27 budget during a special session.

The proposed budget is based largely on Mayor Todd Gloria’s May revisal, which found additional revenue sources to help preserve some library and recreation center hours, shoreline bathrooms and “December Nights,” compared to the initial proposal.

“Even in a difficult budget year, we continued looking for ways to protect neighborhood services responsibly,” Gloria said. “My May revise restores targeted services in some of our historically underserved communities while still maintaining our focus on the fundamentals for San Diegans: keeping you safe, fixing infrastructure, reducing homelessness and building more homes.”

Gloria’s proposed additions include protecting recreation center and library hours in Council Districts 4, 8 and 9, Monday hours at Carmel Valley Library and preventing the North Clairemont Library Branch from closing, protection of staffing support for December Nights planning and operations, another $500,000 for youth drop-in centers, and allocating opioid settlement funds toward treatment and support programs through UC San Diego and the San Diego LGBT Community Center.

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However, arts funding could still be gutted based on the May revise. Last week, City Council President Pro Tem Kent Lee was joined by Budget Committee Chair Henry Foster III with County Supervisor Monica Montgomery Steppe and representatives of the Prebys Foundation to announce a public- private proposal to restore San Diego’s arts funding, which would have the foundation put up $3 million for arts and culture programs slashed in the current proposed budget.

“Arts are essential to our city,” Lee said. “Music, film, artistic expression — this is what makes us human, and it’s what transforms a city into a community. Our arts programs create jobs, attract visitors and help define what it means to be a San Diegan. This is not about funding some abstract luxury, it’s about protecting one of San Diego’s greatest strengths.”

The proposal also would adopt recommendations from the city’s Independent Budget Analyst’s office to shift $6 million from San Diego’s Transient Occupancy Tax — essentially a hotel tax — to arts programs, as well as restoring $1.3 million in grants.

“Arts and culture belong in all of San Diego and this funding supports local artists, small businesses, jobs and the community spaces that keep our neighborhoods connected,” Foster said. “In District 4, the San Diego Black Arts and Culture District shows why this work matters by honoring history, creating opportunity and making sure culture isn’t forgotten. As budget chair, I truly believe this proposal is a responsible way to protect funding that matters to our residents and our local economy.”

It would cover around $10.35 million of the nearly $12 million cut under the proposed budget as the city looks to tighten its belt around a $118 million structural budget deficit.

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“Our investment is intended to encourage the city to restore arts funding, honor the competitive grants process already underway and strengthen regional support for arts and culture,” said Grant Oliphant, CEO and president of the Prebys Foundation. “For decades, San Diego’s artists and cultural organizations have been promised a reliable source of public funding. It is time to deliver on that promise, and today marks an important step forward.”

Gloria said new sources of revenue to cover the non-art additions include an increase in tourism occupancy tax — charged to those who stay in the city’s hotels — and a $4.3 million boost to revenue by recovering rent from the city’s golf courses.

“Every private golf course in San Diego pays rent for the land it sits on,” he said. “Our public courses sit on public land owned by the people of San Diego. The new legal guidance allows us to properly account for the value of that land, and to make sure the public benefits when the courses succeed.”

George Duardo, president of the San Diego City Firefighters, said some cuts slated for the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department were worrying — such as bomb squad staffing, the community resource officer, the recruitment and retention officer, fire information officer position and fire academy instructor.

“While (it’s) good the city found additional money in the budget, it is unfortunate that it wasn’t directed to reverse the proposed cuts to Fire- Rescue staffing and operations,” he said. “We are hopeful the council and mayor can truly make public safety a priority and not compromise fire staffing and response times via the cuts on the table.”

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Council members will also have to weigh significant decisions made Monday evening, when the council voted unanimously to end paid parking at Balboa Park by the end of the year and reduce trash fees for single-family homes.

Paid parking will end on Dec. 31 and the trash fees will be reduced to $38.75 starting next year for the “typical” 95-gallon bin bundle — a number adjusted for inflation from the initial proposal in 2021. Those using 65-

or 35-gallon bins will pay “proportionally less.” That amount will increase to $39.91 on July 1, 2028.

The decisions Monday mean the city must find the lost revenue — or slash existing services — from somewhere else. A possible reduction of services includes the elimination of bulky item pickup and delay of an electric vehicle rollout.

“Today’s City Council action reflects a compromise reached to protect the city from prolonged litigation and the risk of even deeper financial consequences that could have resulted in far more significant cuts to core services,” Gloria said.

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“Faced with the potential total loss of more than $150 million and the prospect of additional cuts to police, fire protection, libraries, parks, and neighborhood services, I supported a compromise that helps protect the city’s financial stability and allows us to avoid a much more damaging outcome.”

The city will immediately stop selling yearly passes for the parking, will stop selling quarterly passes on Sept. 30 and monthly passes by Nov. 30. Those who have already purchased a yearly pass will get a prorated refund from the city.

Single-family refuse pickup is funded by the city’s general fund, which all residents pay into through property tax — whether they rent or own a single-family home, a condominium or an apartment. The city takes away 300,000 tons of trash and 150,000 tons of recycling, compostables and yard waste annually.

The San Diego City Council will convene at 1 p.m. Tuesday to discuss and vote on the budget.

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