Los Angeles police announced on Thursday (6th) that in an operation against organized theft, stolen goods worth over $4 million and a large amount of cash were seized, and nine suspects were arrested.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Major Crimes Bureau conducted the operation to combat organized retail crime, executing search warrants at nine locations, including three retail stores suspected of reselling stolen goods.
According to videos released by the sheriff’s department on social media, law enforcement officers were seen bagging and boxing goods and loading them onto trucks. The stolen items came from multiple retail stores, including one named Big Apple. Stolen goods such as NyQuil, Claritin, Cortisone, some still bearing labels showing they were meant for resale at CVS, were among the recovered items.
One location found selling stolen merchandise was QuickMart LA, where the counter was piled high with clothing. Another location was at 6th Avenue and LA Wholesale Plaza, where authorities also found electronic gaming machines, diapers, and other products.
Authorities mentioned that some items were directly stolen from commercial establishments in West Hollywood, with assistance from the West Hollywood substation’s Crime Impact Team in executing the search warrants.
In a separate operation on Wednesday, detectives from the Los Angeles Police Department raided a store located across from MacArthur Park in the Westlake neighborhood of Los Angeles.
During this operation, authorities estimated that stolen goods worth approximately $300,000 were recovered from retailers such as CVS, Walgreens, Ross, T.J. Maxx, Target, requiring even a U-Haul truck for transportation. Police arrested a suspect who was receiving stolen goods in the store.
Photos showed officers loading stolen goods onto a U-Haul truck on a rainy night. The seized items included Cetaphil, wine, plastic and aluminum travel cups, shoes, baby powder, skincare and haircare products, perfumes, antibiotics, among others.
In September 2023, the task force collaborated with retail stores to combat organized retail crime. Partners included Ulta, Bath & Body Works, Nordstrom, Macy’s, T.J. Maxx, Nike, Walgreens, Coach, Tory Burch, Victoria’s Secret, Burlington, NEX, Target, and CVS.
Epoch Times reached out to the relevant law enforcement agencies, the numerous retail partners involved in the operation, and the stores accused of reselling stolen goods but had not received a response at the time of publication.