The deputies from the Jurupa Valley Sheriff’s Station and Eastvale Special Enforcement Team worked from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday in the 12500 block of Limonite Avenue, according to Riverside County sheriff’s Sgt. Vanessa Rodriguez.

Deputies observed suspects stealing merchandise and arrested them without incident, Rodriguez said.

They arrested 23-year-old Daren Mejia of Ontario, 42-year-old David Romero of Eastvale, 63-year-old Roman De Anda Sanchez of Colton, 61-year-old Refugio Jose Gonzalez of Gardena, 42-year-old Norco resident Richard E. Casiano Jr., 36-year-old Chanel Sierra White of Jurupa Valley and 40-year-old Fontana resident Xochitl Villagrana Ugarte for suspicion of shoplifting, Rodriguez said.

Redlands resident, 37-year-old Angelica Castaneda and a 14-year-old Eastvale boy were arrested for suspicion of petty theft, with the teen being released to his parents.

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The store management explained that although the policy had been posted on their front door, some individuals took advantage of it, leading to theft. “We know this is inconvenient for everyone, but we want to ensure that we have products for you all as well as not lose any so we can keep pricing affordable,” the store stated in its post.

In a show of support for the community, the store also offered assistance to customers struggling to afford groceries. “If anyone is struggling, please do not resort to theft. Please ask for one of the owners, and we will see what we can do to help,” the management wrote, as reported by KTLA.

This policy change comes amid a significant surge in retail theft across California, which has seen shoplifting increase nearly 40% in 2023 compared to the previous year, according to the Public Policy Institute of California. In response, many retailers have started locking up a wider range of products.

California voters approved Proposition 36 in 2024, which reinstated stricter penalties for theft and lowered the felony threshold for shoplifting back to $450. This was a rollback of aspects of the 2014 Proposition 47, which had reclassified nonviolent offenses, including shoplifting goods valued under $950, as misdemeanors, according to Yahoo News.

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Between Dec. 7 and 14, authorities recovered $10,281.80 in property and made 15 felony arrests. The remaining 13 arrestees received misdemeanor charges.

The theft operation was conducted at Victoria Gardens Shopping Center in Rancho Cucamonga and retail stores across Chino Hills, according to the San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department.

The bust was coordinated in response to rising retail crime thefts across the Inland Empire, where police say business owners are at risk of falling victim to organized crime groups and smash-and-grab operations.

It was in November of last year when the sheriff’s department started to take note of a rise in incidents involving robberies, burglaries, shelve sweeps and vandalisms.

“These violent criminals terrorize the citizens of San Bernardino County by utilizing intimidation tactics and a mob mentality that creates an unsafe and uncomfortable shopping environment for our residents,” deputies wrote in a statement on Tuesday.

Funding for the sweep came from the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors, according to the statement.

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Giovanni Munoz Leon, 51, and Nury Alejandra Herrera Palacio, 32, both of Ontario, were arrested Thursday following a months-long Riverside County Sheriff’s Department investigation.

Leon and Palacio were slated to make a joint initial court appearance Monday afternoon at the Southwest Justice Center in Murrieta.

Both are being held in lieu of $500,000 bail — Leon at the Byrd Detention Center in Murrieta, and Palacio at the Smith Correctional Facility in Banning.

According to sheriff’s Sgt. Robert Thomas, the defendants allegedly snatched a number of beauty products from the shelves of a Lake Elsinore outlet in late August, then proceeded to flee the location without paying. The estimated loss to the business was $3,000.

Thomas said the ensuing investigation did not turn up sufficient evidence to reveal the perpetrators’ identities, but Leon and Palacio returned to the same store on Sept. 28 and allegedly grabbed $2,000 in merchandise before fleeing again. This time, investigators were able to procure enough information to ultimately identify the alleged thieves, he said.

“They determined that from June to October of this year, Leon and Palacio were responsible for over 50 thefts within California, totaling $123,000 in (stolen) merchandise,” the sergeant said.
Detectives obtained a search warrant for the pair’s shared residence in the 2500 block of East Riverside Drive, “where evidence connecting them to the thefts was recovered,” Thomas said.

“During the search, stolen clothing was located from multiple retail establishments,” he said.

Neither defendant has documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.

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Proponents, including law enforcement organizations and major retailers, say the law would help reduce rampant retail theft and tackle homelessness. But opponents point out that not only does the measure lack funding for drug treatment and shelter efforts, it actually could end up taking money away from those services in order to fund increased prison and judicial costs.

The measure, dubbed the Homelessness, Drug Addiction and Theft Reduction Act, on Tuesday was cleared by state officials to appear on the Nov. 5 ballot after organizers gathered the required number of signatures.

If approved by voters, the measure would roll back some of the changes made by Proposition 47, which reclassified certain felonies as misdemeanors. Most notably, the 2014 law made theft and other property crimes under $950, as well as the personal use of most illegal drugs misdemeanors.

While violent and property crimes have increased statewide since 2020, they remain relatively low compared other the 1980s and 1990s, according to the Public Policy Institute of California.

Critics of Prop. 47 blame the measure for increasing crime and a host of other issues, despite a lack of conclusive data proving that correlation.

“Our homelessness problem is directly connected to these unintended consequences of Proposition 47, which the voters now desire to correct,” reads the new measure.

The measure would allow for felony charges to be filed against those who commit thefts under $950 as well as for possessing certain drugs, including fentanyl, in cases where the suspect has two prior drug or two prior theft convictions.

Currently, such cases can only be prosecuted as misdemeanors.

Defendants who plead guilty to felony drug possession and complete treatment could have their charges dismissed under the measure.

The measure has earned strong support from the state’s top retailers, including Walmart, Target, Home Depot and 7-Eleven, who are among the campaign’s major funders, Bloomberg reported.

San Francisco Mayor London Breed, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan and the state associations of police chiefs and prosecutors are also among the effort’s backers.

“The Homelessness, Drug Addiction, and Theft Reduction Act will make targeted but impactful changes to our laws around fentanyl and help us tackle the chronic retail theft that hurts our retailers, our workers, and our cities. I fully support this measure and know it will make a meaningful difference for cities across California,” reads a quote from Breed on the campaign’s website.

But critics say the bill’s targeting of Prop. 47 is overly simplistic at best.

“We have to dispense with this simplistic narrative that reforms are what caused the crime and the crime is what causes all of the retail problems that the retail establishments are reporting,” said Charis Kubrin, a professor of Criminology, Law and Society at UC Irvine told the Sacramento Bee.

Additionally, an analysis of the measure by state officials found that increased sentences and incarceration may cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars. And to pay for it, the state might have to reduce spending on mental health and substance abuse services, truancy and dropout prevention and victim services, based on requirements in current law.

Gov. Gavin Newsom and other lawmakers oppose the measure in favor of their own competing bill package, arguing that concerns about retail theft can be addressed without altering Prop. 47,the Bee reported.

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In a closed-door discussion this week, representatives for Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas (D-Hollister) met with the leaders behind the Californians for Safer Communities Coalition, the group led by local district attorneys that has spent the last six months campaigning for voter support to reform Proposition 47, which voters passed in 2014.

Two people with knowledge of the meeting said legislative leaders are moving forward with a hard-ball approach that would make voters choose between the two efforts — and could splinter support for the ballot measure.

Unless the ballot measure is withdrawn, the Democratic leadership plans to add an “inoperability clause” to its legislation that would revoke the new laws if voters pass the statewide proposition in November, according to the sources and a letter Republicans sent to legislative leaders.

The Republican lawmakers in the letter condemned those changes, saying they would “do grave damage” to the bipartisan progress made on retail theft. Lawmakers are advancing a bipartisan 12-bill legislative package that would address the issues of retail theft and focus on protecting the safety of workers and store owners, without harsher penalties for some offenders.

The proposed ballot initiative takes a different approach that would revise Proposition 47 to make possession of fentanyl into a felony, and repeat offenders who steal for the third time — regardless of the value of the product stolen — could serve up to three years in state prison. A spokesperson for the ballot measure campaign declined to comment about the meeting.

“The Speaker has done more in eight months than anyone has done in eight years to push the conversation forward and I think everyone in the room acknowledges that,” said Daniel Conway, vice president of government relations for the California Grocers Assn., who was present during the discussions this week. “And that is why there is a bona fide effort to see what can be done.”

Both the proposed legislation and ballot measure focus on the need to address retail theft. But over the last several months, disagreements have been mounting over the best path forward. Gov. Gavin Newsom made it clear that he does not want proposed reforms to Proposition 47 on the November ballot, saying effective changes can be made through the legislative process instead. But law enforcement groups and conservative prosecutors say the only way to enact substantive changes is by bringing it back to the voters.

California voters approved Proposition 47 in 2014 to reclassify some felony drug and theft offenses as misdemeanors and to raise, from $400 to $950, the amount for which theft can be prosecuted as a felony.

The political jockeying and the change leaders plan to make to the legislation could potentially lead to splintering within the ballot measure coalition, which has had the backing of law enforcement groups and funding from major retailers.

The Grocer’s Assn., which represents over 6,000 food stores and grocery suppliers, is still supportive of both the ballot measure and legislation.

Rachel Michelin, president of the California Retailers Assn., told The Times that she supports the legislative package and thinks it does more for retailers than the ballot initiative. But she is frustrated at the politics being played on all sides.

“I am just trying to provide resources to retailers and law enforcement to keep our customers safe,” she said. “Unfortunately, I don’t know whether the proponents of the initiative are going to budge. My fear is we lose all of these things in the package if they move forward to initiative. That would be detrimental.”

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The suspects, all residents of Jurupa Valley, were identified by the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department as:

• Thomas Balandran, 50
• Sherri Alvarez, 48
• Brianna Balandran, 19
• Unidentified juvenile, 17

On April 24, deputies responded to a business in Temecula where thieves attempted to steal over $1,000 worth of merchandise.

Investigators identified the suspects and discovered they were responsible for at least 10 retail thefts throughout Riverside, San Bernardino, and Los Angeles counties. The family had reportedly stolen over $7,000 worth of items during those incidents, authorities said.

On May 13, a search warrant was served at a home in the 6800 block of Valley Way in Jurupa Valley.

During the search, deputies found a large amount of stolen merchandise with price tags still attached. Other items, including narcotics and paraphernalia, were also found in the home.

Detectives learned there were additional homes connected to the thefts that involved suspects knowingly buying stolen goods to resell for profit, also known as “fencing.”

On May 14, two additional warrants were served in Moreno Valley where over $3,000 worth of stolen items were found.

The adult family members were arrested on charges of organized retail theft, burglary, conspiracy, and grand theft. The 17-year-old juvenile was released to a family member and charges will be filed with juvenile probation.

Deputies discovered that Balandran was on probation for grand theft at the time and additional charges were added to include violation of probation and drug-related offenses.

Investigators believe there are more retail thefts involving the family that have not been reported.

Anyone with additional information can call Deputy Christina Weber at 951-696-3133.

“The Riverside County Sheriff’s Office has zero tolerance for these offenses and will continue to work proactively with our allied agencies, loss prevention partners, and the District Attorney’s Office to combat organized retail crime,” authorities said.

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File # L233060092

Details:

On Thursday, November 2, 2023, about 8:04 p.m., deputies assigned to the Sheriff’s Lake Elsinore Station’s Special Enforcement Team and the Robbery Burglary Suppression Team responded to a reported grand theft at a local retail store. The loss prevention employee advised the retail store suffered a loss of over $2,000 in merchandise earlier in the day and the suspects had returned. The suspects, one of which was later identified as Georgiana Velcu, a 19-year-old resident of Brea, and two juvenile returned to the retail store and were observed concealing items. Velcu and the two juvenile suspects were detained. During the investigation, deputies recovered over $10,000 in stolen merchandise from numerous retail stores within the County of Riverside. It is believed the suspects were part of an organized retail theft ring operating in the Inland Empire. Georgiana Velcu was transported and booked into the Cois Byrd Detention Center on violations of grand theft and organized retail theft. The two juveniles were released to a parent or guardian, and charges will be filed with Juvenile Probation.

This is an ongoing investigation. Anyone with additional information is encouraged to contact Deputy Noel at the Lake Elsinore Sheriff’s Station (951) 245-3300.

As a reminder, “Community Policing” involves partnerships between law enforcement and community members.  Business owners and residents are encouraged to report criminal activity directly to law enforcement by calling Sheriff’s Dispatch at (951) 776-1099, or by calling 911 if the matter is an emergency.

For media inquiries regarding this incident please contact the Media Information Bureau.

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File # PE232410044

Details:

On Tuesday, August 29, 2023, at 12:08 p.m., deputies from the Perris Sheriff’s Station responded to a business in the 1600 block of Perris Boulevard in Perris for a report of grand theft. Deputies learned the suspect, who was described as a black female adult, entered the store and stole $3321.00 worth of store merchandise and fled in a blue vehicle. The Perris Special Enforcement Team (SET) assumed the investigation. During their investigation, deputies identified Lisa Warren, a 60-year-old from Moreno Valley, as the suspect responsible for the theft.

On September 29, 2023, Perris SET located Warren and arrested her for the theft. Warren was subsequently booked into a Riverside County jail for grand theft.

Anyone with information on this case is encouraged to call Deputy Soto at the Perris Sheriff’s Station by calling 951–210–1000.

For media inquiries regarding this incident please contact the Media Information Bureau.

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File# T232620060

Details:

On September 19, 2023, at 4:05 p.m., the Sheriff’s Palm Desert Station deputies responded to a business in the 72300 block of Highway 111 in the City of Palm Desert regarding the grand theft of various high-end items valued at approximately $10,000. Upon arrival, deputies learned two Hispanic male adults entered the business, placed several items into shopping bags, and exited the business without paying. The suspects then fled in a white colored sedan driven by a third Hispanic male.

Deputies from the Palm Desert Special Enforcement Team and the Rancho Mirage Special Enforcement Team responded to the area and located the suspect vehicle. After a short pursuit, the vehicle yielded, and the three suspects were arrested without incident. The three suspects were identified as Saliba Deeb, a 30-year-old resident of Palm Desert; Mariano Flores, a 30-year-old resident of Indio; and Arturo Sanchez, a 40-year-old resident of Indio. Deputies recovered the stolen items from inside of the suspect vehicle. All three suspects will be booked into the John Benoit Detention Center for organized retail theft, possession of stolen property, evading, and conspiracy.

Anyone with information regarding the theft is encouraged to contact Deputy Robles at the Palm Desert Sheriff’s Station at 760-836-1600.

For media inquiries regarding this incident please contact the Media Information Bureau.

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