Yep, pretty much. While the majority of the thefts are a single person taking $100 or less, the larger cases of ORC more often than not involve crews. Teams of 2-5 or more people all working together. Normally a booster who actually takes the items, one or more people watching for security or actively trying to distract them, sometimes a couple outside waiting to run interference when they exit the store, and a driver waiting in the car.
Here is a great example of one crew I had caught in the past.
Four men and a juvenile were arrested in Vacaville for allegedly stealing about $4,700 worth of Red Bull energy drinks.
www.kcra.com
Now in this crew, Torn Saelee was the "Booster". Before my team caught him outside Sacramento we had been searching for him for months, where we knew him as the "Asian Red Bull bandit". Hitting a dozen or more stores in a day along some freeway. My team was the first to catch him, and realizing he was from Oakland helped explain his pattern. Hop on a random freeway, then drive down it hitting selected stores close to a freeway exit. Hit a store, then 20 minutes later they would hit another one 20 miles away. Never taking more than $900 in Red Bull. This was probably their fifth hit in that day when they were caught.
The others also took roles. One or two inside watching for us, one or two outside to try and break him out if he got caught, and a final one in the van waiting. That day I had a "heavy team", as me and my partner were training two other agents. The moment we knew who he was we started setting up, and it was four of us stopping him in front of the store. They probably decided it was not worth taking on four of us so the rest of the gang took off.
And as is normal in California, the cops just gave him a ticket and sent him on his way. Where 45 minutes after being released they hit another store on the other side of town. Then an hour later two more in Stockton. And these teams know that even if caught, they will likely just get a slap on the wrist and nothing else. Torn has been in and out of jail multiple times since this incident. Where in most states that would have resulted in a felony Grand Theft and Conspiracy charge. But in California, the DA just shrugs it off and lets them go with little penalty.
Torn Meng Saelee of Oakland, age 28, was arrested for Petty Theft Petty Theft Obtaining property by theft where value exceeds $950 in Alameda County, California on May 25, 2018 by Hayward CHP. This arrest data includes all information on current and previous arrests for Torn Meng Saelee
www.localcrimenews.com
SHERIFF’S REPORTS The following were compiled from reports prepared by the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office: BOOKED: Jamie Trudeau, 53, of Fort Bragg, was arrested on April 27 at 10:31…
www.ukiahdailyjournal.com
Ukiah is about 100 miles north on the US-101. So even years later he was still doing that.
There are a lot of "booster teams" in California, sometimes entire families with parents, kids, and grandparents all working together. We always went on the highest alert, because more often than not the single person we see has accomplices that we can not see. More than once I had been gang jumped by them. One of the reasons I stopped doing that work was I got tired of being attacked by 3-6 other people and knowing the DA will often not even charge them even if they are caught.
After Torn was caught in that high profile arrest, my company contacted the DA there and gave them our records of over 50 prior thefts by him all over the state. From as far away as Redding, to Fresno. But as he was on the street again no less than two years later, obviously he once again only got a slap on the wrist. Which he is still getting.
