SACRAMENTO — Thirteen East Bay residents, including 12 from Oakland, have been criminally charged and more than 44,000 stolen merchandise items were recovered following an operation targeting an organized retail theft network operating across Northern California, the California Highway Patrol said Tuesday.
According to a CHP news release, an investigation began in September when the CHP’s Valley Division Organized Retail Crime Task Force was alerted to a pair of retail theft suspects who stole merchandise in Placer County and at other locations throughout the state. The task force includes investigators from the CHP, Sacramento Police Department and the Placer County District Attorney’s Office.
In October, a traffic stop in Rocklin yielded information that helped identify suspects who had been seen buying stolen merchandise and selling it for profit…