Retail crime ring loses 160 pallets of stolen goods, worth $1.4 million, in Riverside warehouse raid
A months-long investigation into an organized retail crime ring ended last week with the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department recovering 160 pallets of stolen merchandise — valued at about $1.4 million — from a warehouse, officials said Monday.
The Moreno Valley Sheriff’s Station Special Enforcement Team had been investigating the trailer cargo theft ring since February and served a search warrant on the warehouse off of Highway 74 on Thursday night in an unincorporated area called Good Hope.
Inside the warehouse, deputies found pallets stacked high with stolen goods, including food and industrial-grade tools, the department said.
Eight people were arrested on suspicion of organized retail theft after authorities discovered several million dollars’ worth of stolen medicines, cosmetics and other merchandise at multiple Los Angeles locations, sheriff officials said.
Retail theft has been an increasing problem in the last year or so, prompting state and local officials to respond by creating task forces and proposing legislation to impose harsher penalties on repeat offenders and allow retailers to file restraining orders against repeat culprits.
Truck driver Rajdeep Singh, 34, was detained at the Good Hope location during the search and arrested on suspicion of possession of heroin and drug paraphernalia.
“This is an ongoing investigation, and deputies are working to determine Singh’s involvement and identifying additional suspects,” the department said in a statement.
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