More 'Smash-And-Grab' Crimes Plague CA

CALIFORNIA — For more than a week, flash mobs of thieves have descended on stores all over the Golden State, beleaguering retailers and law enforcement agencies in the busiest shopping season of the year.

In the latest smash-and-grab incident, a large group burst into a high-end shop in the Melrose area of Los Angeles Friday night. The mob of thieves used pepper spray and made off with an unknown number of items before fleeing, KCAL9 reported.

During the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, at least six similar robberies took place in the Fairfax District, Beverly Grove and Hancock Park on Black Friday.

Earlier that evening, eight men entered a Home Depot in Lakewood, walked directly to the tool aisle and stole various sledgehammers, crowbars and hammers valued at approximately $400, according to Deputy Miguel Meza of the Sheriff's Information Bureau.

Store employees told Fox11 a group of up to 20 males between 15 and 20 years old pulled up to the store in as many as 10 cars, put on ski masks and began stealing sledgehammers and crowbars.

"We tried to stop them," worker Luis Romo told the station. "We closed the front entrance and they put their sledgehammers up and whoever got in the way, they were going to hurt them."

The group threatened one customer, "but he got away," Romo said.

Last week, an onslaught of similar burglaries in the Bay Area prompted Gov. Gavin Newsom to ask law enforcement agencies to increase patrols in and around highly trafficked areas during the holiday season.

Authorities believed that sophisticated criminal networks could be to blame for the recent string of smash-and-grab crimes, which have left some shoppers and retail employees afraid to return to the locations.

Some employees of affected locations have been injured during the robberies. In Walnut Creek, five Walnut Creek Nordstrom workers were injured last weekend, a store spokesperson told Patch.

On Monday, Newsom said he had no "sympathy or empathy" for people involved with such crimes, KCRA reported.

"We want people prosecuted and we want people to feel safe," Newsom told reporters. "They must be held to account."

In Marin County, authorities were searching for 40 suspects who were involved in a $250,000 Marin flash mob smash-and-grab burglary Sunday night at the Marin Country Mart Shopping Center.

Around 40 people smashed their way through the front window of The RealReal and stole merchandise valued at approximately $250,000 million, police said. The RealReal is a members-only luxury goods resale chain outlet store.

READ MORE: 2 Marin Smash-And-Grab-Suspects ID'd

Last week, the avalanche of robberies also spurred action by Bay Area district attorneys.

"The recent acts of retail thefts, robberies and mass-mob burglaries throughout Northern California will not be tolerated," Nancy E. O'Malley, Alameda County district attorney, said in a statement. "These are clearly carefully orchestrated crimes, working together in large groups to create a mob-like mentality. They are instilling fear in merchants, customers and the wider community."

District attorney's offices in Contra Costa, Marin, Santa Clara, San Francisco, San Joaquin and San Mateo counties planned to work together to share data, crime analytics and investigative resources to prosecute people believed to be linked to organized retail theft schemes, they announced Tuesday.

High-end stores throughout the Bay Area were targeted by groups of thieves wielding crowbars last week, and the trend has been observed across the state.

San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin also announced that felony charges had been filed against nine people for a marathon of Nov. 19 night thefts involving a Louis Vuitton store, a cannabis dispensary and a Walgreens.

So-called flash mobs are typically organized by local people who recruited crews and sent them to steal specific merchandise requested by criminal organizations throughout the nation, said Ben Dugan, president of the Coalition of Law Enforcement and Retail.

Those who participate in such robberies may get paid between $500 and $1,000 to take as much as they can and bring it back to organizers, who ship it to other parts of the country, according to Dugan.

"Crew bosses organize them. They'll give him the crowbars, and in some cases even rent them cars or provide them with escape routes or a list of products to actually go out and steal. It looks very chaotic, but it's actually very well organized," Dugan said.

In some cases, thieves may be copycats rather than people working with organized networks, according to David Levenberg, a mall and retail security expert.

He suggested that groups may be saying, "'Did you see what happened in San Francisco? Let's go to The Grove and do it.'"

READ MORE: Brazen 'Mass-Mob' CA Burglaries Trigger Increased Patrols

City News Service and the Associated Press contributed to this report.