A major crackdown on organized retail theft has culminated in a series of raids and arrests across Los Angeles, Riverside, and San Bernardino Counties, the Santa Monica Police Department announced yesterday. The expansive operation, which has been in the works for three months, was spearheaded by the SMPD’s Criminal Investigations Division with support from the Los Angeles Police Department Organized Retail Theft Task Force and the California Highway Patrol Border Division Organized Retail Crime Task Force. Investigations linked the suspects to a network responsible for a spate of thefts at Southern California retailers, stretching from San Diego County to Santa Barbara County.
The thefts, which took place between June and October 2025, targeted numerous stores, including a Lululemon location in Santa Monica. A social media post from the Santa Monica Police Department detailed the results of the investigation, revealing that coordinating teams executed search and arrest warrants across various counties. Despite the scale of operation, the investigation is still described as ongoing. According to the Santa Monica Police Department’s Facebook post, the gear up to these raids has been meticulous, factoring in the interconnectivity of the multiple suspects involved in the theft rings.
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