The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office arrested hundreds of suspects accused of ripping off retail chains in a massive anti-theft operation, including disrupting a likely international gift card scam the office has never seen before.
"Retail theft in Sacramento County is out of control. Over the course of seven days, sheriff's detectives conducted an operation targeting thieves and large retailers throughout our region. This operation was an overwhelming success, but we can't fight this alone," Sacramento County Sheriff Jim Cooper said in a video of the operation.
The sheriff’s office carried out "Operation Bad Elf" to curb retail theft at big shopping chains such as Target, Walgreens and Walmart from Nov. 27 to Dec. 3, which resulted in 285 felony and misdemeanor arrests. Deputies were also able to recover stolen merchandise "worth tens of thousands of dollars."
Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Amar Gandhi told Fox News Digital on Wednesday that one of the busts included a Chinese national who was found to be in the possession of thousands of Target gift cards. Footage of the man’s arrest was included in the sheriff’s office video and shows the suspect in a Target parking lot as authorities surround him to make an arrest.
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"That guy blew up like a pinata at a kid's birthday party, spilling out gift cards from his jacket," Gandhi told Fox News Digital in a phone call of what happened as deputies tackled the man.
The suspect, who was only identified as a Chinese national, is likely part of a larger operation in which people take legitimate gift cards off the shelves of stores and "surgically remove" the glue that covers the cards’ barcodes, Gandhi said. They then record the PINs, re-conceal the barcodes with glue, and return the cards to store shelves, the spokesperson explained, adding his office had never seen such an operation before.
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Then, when an unsuspecting shopper loads one of the cards with funds, "that money goes straight into a Chinese bank account somewhere," the spokesperson explained.
"It’s going to go unreported because are you going to confront somebody who gave you a $0 gift card, right? No, that's rude. And then you're sitting there fat, dumb and happy, thinking, ‘Oh, I did something nice for somebody,’ not knowing that your money's gone," he said, noting the crime has national and international implications and is not isolated to just Sacramento.
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A photo of the recovered gift cards, which was provided to Fox News Digital, shows thousands of cards that were recovered from the man’s vehicle and his person. The cards came from store locations across the state, the spokesperson said.
Cooper previously spoke to Fox News Digital in a Zoom interview in which he stressed that theft in the area has spiraled "way beyond crisis level," and he pinned blame on Proposition 47, which voters passed in 2014 through a ballot initiative. Under the law, shoplifting charges regarding theft of $950 or less were lowered from felonies to misdemeanors.
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The sheriff’s office explained this week that the anti-theft operation provided "a significant boost to the affected retailers" but that retailers need to pick up the mantle to champion a ballot initiative to change the California laws that "incentivize criminal behavior."
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"Retailers need to step up and make safety in their stores a priority. Bad laws that incentivize criminal behavior need to change and only you, the voters, can make that happen. I've seen the polls, it will pass overwhelmingly if put on the ballot. Retailers, step up and fund the initiative," Cooper said in a video regarding the operation.
The sheriff office’s press release noted that "California will continue to face these same problems" until a ballot measure is put before voters to change retail theft laws.
"While these arrests are significant, major problems lie within weak legislation. Sacramento County currently has over 33,000 outstanding misdemeanor warrants, many of which stem from offenses such as shoplifting and other theft-related crimes. Until a measure is put on the ballot for voters, California will continue to face these same problems, regardless of enforcement," the Sacramento Sheriff’s Office said in a press release provided to Fox News Digital.
Cooper argued that big retailers need to also increase their security protocols amid the crime spike, and the video stated that rampant retail crime leads to higher prices at the check-out counter and decreases quality of life for law-abiding residents.
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"We need the active involvement of the retailers for this type of success to continue. They need to make an investment in their stores’ safety, as we are not their 24/7 private security," Cooper said in the press release.
