Police display stash of stolen cosmetics
BERKELEY – Two truckloads of stolen merchandise estimated to be worth $500,000 were recovered during a police search of a residence and storage unit in San Leandro, where a couple was arrested together on May 10.
The merchandise was stolen from CVS Pharmacy and Walgreens stores in Berkeley, which were robbed a total of five times during January and February by a person who grabbed armfuls of goods and threatened employees who tried to intervene, police said.
Several agencies collaborated on investigations to crack the case. The Berkeley Police Department worked with the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office, San Francisco police, and the Organized Retail Crime Task Force with investigators from CVS and Walgreens.
Police recovered cosmetics and other products with CVS and Walgreens price stickers, merchandise which probably would have been sold at flea markets and online—had the authorities not intercepted the supply chain of a suspected crime ring operating in the Bay Area.
A February 6th arrest of four suspects at a San Francisco Walgreens store, leading to three persons being charged with 29 crimes committed in Alameda County, including the store robberies in Berkeley, helped police identity 44-year-old Rosa M. Jimenez, as a suspect who was purchasing merchandise stolen from the stores.
Police obtained warrants to arrest Jimenez and search her home on the 2000 block of San Leandro Boulevard, in San Leandro, and a nearby storage unit.
Jimenez was arrested and charged with receiving stolen property, along with her boyfriend Enrique Rodriguez, 50, who was charged with receiving stolen property, and as an accessory to a felony. The couple was booked at Berkeley Jail, where Jimenez “celebrated” her birthday in custody on May 12.
