A burglary crew suspected of at least 15 burglaries of marijuana businesses, including one in Paso Robles last January, has been busted by the State Department of Justice agents.
The local case happened last Jan. 16 at a cannabis processing plant in North County, when they received a report of a burglary in progress.
Witnesses reported seeing at least seven suspects “running out of the business with bags of cannabis,” reads a news release.
The suspects fled the scene before deputies arrived and their investigation uncovered quite a haul.
“Deputies discovered at least 500 pounds of processed and packaged marijuana had been taken, as well as a safe that had been broken into by the suspects.” The loss was estimated at $500,000.
Detectives with the Sheriff’s Cannabis Compliance Team took over the investigation and soon uncovered a similar burglary at a pot shop in San Jose.
That led to contact with detectives in Oakland and then the State DOJ and a multi-agency investigation — dubbed “Sticky Fingers” by the Attorney General — looking into a crew of Oakland gang members targeting cannabis businesses, the release said.
In late August the case came to a head. “Last week,” the news release said, “the state DOJ arrested and charged 22 people for these crimes, which included 13 people involved in the Northern San Luis Obispo County burglary.”
This crew has apparently been busy. “The suspects are thought to be responsible for at least 15 dispensary burglaries in nine different California counties, which resulted in a loss of more than $1 million dollars and almost a thousand pounds of cannabis.”
According to a news report, the 22 suspects combined have been charged with 32 felonies relating to 15 incidents in Fresno, Kern, Merced, Monterey, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Santa Cruz, Solano and Sonoma Counties. As half the burglaries took place in Santa Cruz County, that’s where the suspects will reportedly be prosecuted.
