California woman arrested with $450k of goods stolen from drug stores, police say

This is one of over 800 arrests for retail theft made since January

A grand total of $450k of stolen goods was found by Californian authorities in their operation (California Highway Patrol/Facebook)

A California woman has been arrested after allegedly getting caught with over $450,000 worth of merchandise stolen from drug stores.

Claudia Cruz, 35, of Oakland, was booked into Alameda County Jail on charges of organized retail crime, possession of stolen property and conspiracy to commit a crime, revealed a statement from the California Highway Patrol (CHP) on Friday.

Investigations began in July, with officials from the CHP Golden Gate Division Organised Retail Crime Taskforce conducting a series of surveillance operations.

On August 15, investigators executed search warrants at an Oakland residence and two vehicles, where as well as seizing a “large quantity of stolen merchandise,” they learned “the suspect” was also leasing a storage facility.

Armed with another search warrant, the ORCTF investigators discovered even more stolen goods at the storage unit — bringing the total value of the items, mostly pilfered from drug stores, to a whopping $450,000.

The arrest comes one week after Governor Gavin Newsom’s office published a press release reporting “record progress” by the CHP in combatting retail theft.

The August 15 release said the ORCTF has made 884 arrests since January and seized nearly a quarter of a million stolen goods valued at more than $7.2 million.

This is also following the governor’s building on his Real Public Safety Plan by calling for legislation cracking down on property crime, with proposals including new penalties, increasing enforcement tools to “bolster existing law,” eliminating the sunset date for the organized retail crime statute, and increasing existing penalties.

The plan is part of Newsom’s efforts to clean up the Golden State, having directed cities and state agencies last month to take urgent action against people sleeping in public spaces, with California officials clearing away a homeless encampment at Dockweiler State Beach Thursday.