When authorities broke up a theft ring and found about $400,000 worth of stolen goods, they arrested a father and his daughter.
The Organized Retail Theft Task Force of the California Highway Patrol executed a search warrant at a Los Angeles residence on July 30. The commodities that were pilfered were being kept there before being sold at an outdoor market in Torrance.
The fence operation’s leader, Jose Cuadra, 41, was taken into custody at the residence when police found about $400,000 worth of stolen retail goods, including expensive shoes, purses, and perfume.
Cuadra was peddling the pilfered merchandise as authentic name-brand goods, according to police.
Initially, the investigators followed two suspects who took them to Cuadra’s residence. The suspects, Johny Arciniegas-Cortes, 46, and his daughter Paula Arciniegas, 28, were named as the “boosters” in the plot.
Boosters are those who steal merchandise from stores and resell it to fence operators so they can resell it to customers for a profit. On August 14, in Anaheim, the father and daughter were taken into custody.
“Observed numerous times committing retail thefts throughout Southern California,” the two have been, according to CHP. They are said to have stolen goods worth about $10,000 from a number of nearby stores.
Cuadra was charged with four felonies by the Orange County District Attorney’s Office. These charges are as follows:
- Two felonies for obtaining stolen goods
- One felony count of conspiratorial retail theft involving two or more people
- One count of manufacturing and selling counterfeit goods
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Cortes and Arciniegas faced allegations of:
- Grand theft on two counts of felonies
- Count one of conspiring to commit a criminal
- Four shoplifting misdemeanor counts for items valued less than $950
“The CHP has dedicated Organized Retail Theft teams in Orange County, Los Angeles, and the San Francisco Bay Area who work with retailers to combat sophisticated crews that continue to victimize merchants throughout the state,” officials stated.
