Sweeping Cannabis Crime Bust Spurred by Officer’s Killing at Oakland Dispensary, Police Say

The California Department of Justice has filed charges against 22 individuals suspected of organized theft from cannabis dispensaries across nine counties, part of a new push by state prosecutors to crack down on coordinated retail crime.

“We are not talking about shoplifting,” Attorney General Rob Bonta said at a Thursday press conference announcing the charges. “We’re talking about coordinated schemes, organized efforts which pose a threat to our communities. We will continue to investigate and prosecute retail crime until it stops across California.”

According to Bonta, half of the 15 dispensary break-ins took place in Santa Cruz County. The stolen products are valued at $1 million and included nearly 1,000 pounds of marijuana, Bonta said.

The burglaries included several high-profile incidents across Northern California. In May, suspects drove through a window at a Watsonville dispensary then escaped on foot in Hayward after a high-speed police chase through Santa Cruz, Santa Clara and Alameda counties.

The investigation began after the December 2023 fatal shooting of Oakland Police Officer Tuan Le during a botched burglary at a dispensary in Oakland, according to Oakland Deputy Chief of Investigations Frederick Shavies. Police began investigating break-ins at cannabis retailers and large-scale marijuana trafficking in Alameda County and discovered “a nexus of criminals” working across the state, Shavies said.

Three suspects currently face murder charges for Le’s shooting after charges were dropped against an alleged lookout this week.

Other burglaries linked to the organized group took place in Monterey, Solano, Kern, San Luis Obispo, Fresno, Merced, Sonoma and San Diego counties, according to the attorney general’s office.

The majority of the suspects are from Alameda County, Shavies said, with 12 coming from the city of Oakland. Fourteen of the suspects have already “been inside California courts,” Bonta said, and six have not been arrested.

“Our message to those involved in these crimes is unwavering,” Bonta said. “If you organize coordinated retail thefts, if you steal from our businesses and put our people in harm’s way, if you try to make an easy buck off of others’ hard work, we will come for you.”

The operation was announced two weeks after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a slate of bills to combat rising retail theft. The 10 bills are intended to make it easier to prosecute people suspected of retail theft without undoing changes voters approved a decade ago reducing prison sentences for nonviolent crimes.

In November, voters will decide on Proposition 36, which would go further to increase sentences for property and drug crimes. Newsom and other Democrats oppose the measure, which they say would restore policies that previously packed prisons and failed to improve public safety.

Commercial burglaries in California dropped by nearly 10% last year but have soared overall since the COVID-19 pandemic, and rates of shoplifting — targeting lower-value items — have continued to rise, according to an analysis from the Public Policy Institute of California.