Photo: Stock Image
A “big box” store like Home Depot—where their warehouse doors stand wide open throughout the door with little visible security presence—appear to have become primary targets of what Ventura County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Sgt. Baltazar Tapia refers to as “organized retail theft” rings.
Responding to that criminal trend, the VCSD has created their Organized Retail Theft Task Force, pursuant to the granting of financial resources “under the California Retail Theft Prevention” program. The task force is a formal effort that brings multiple law enforcement agencies together in a concerted effort to thwart “an estimated $10 million yearly loss” from organized retail and cargo theft.
Evidence of the efficacy of the Task Force efforts came on the afternoon of May 16th when deputies attached to the VCSD Thousand Oaks Station rolled up to the Thousand Oaks Home Depot store in response to a “theft in progress” call from store employees.
Upon arrival, deputies spotted three Los Angeles residents, Carolos Enrique Gonzales- Moreno, 28, Christopher William Guerrero, 27, and David Chala, 29, as they were in the process of “loading electrical components into two separate carts and walking out of the store” without bothering to pause at the cashier’s counters.
Upon contact with the trio, deputies discovered “several thousand dollars’ worth of stolen merchandise” in their possession. At that point, the handcuffs came out and all three were taken into custody. They were then transported to Ventura County Jail, where they were booked on charges of felony burglary and organized retail theft. All three suspects remain in custody with bail set at $5,000 each.
