10 arrested in undercover operation targeting retail theft at East LA Nike store

EAST LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Ten people were arrested during a two-day undercover operation in connection with recent "brazen'' organized retail thefts at the Nike Community Store in East Los Angeles, authorities announced Saturday.

The arrests were made Thursday and Friday, and more than $3,000 of recovered merchandise was returned to Nike, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. According to investigators, the East L.A. store has lost up to $1 million due to theft in about a year.

READ MORE | Flash mob robberies: Nike store in East LA targeted by thieves weekly, LASD says

Detectives with an LASD burglary-robbery task force worked with the East Los Angeles Station Crime Enforcement Team, Summer Enforcement Team and Nike Loss Prevention on various surveillance operations "to apprehend suspects, deter criminal activity, and protect life and property at the Nike Community Store in East Los Angeles,'' the department said.

The store, located at 4585 Whittier Blvd., has been victimized by the kind of large, organized thefts that have targeted other major retailers in L.A. County in recent weeks, including a Macy's in Sherman Oaks, an Yves Saint Laurent in Glendale and a Nordstrom in Canoga Park.

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Four of the 10 arrests were for alleged felonies, according to the LASD, which added that two of the suspects had outstanding arrests warrants, one of which was a shoplifting warrant.

Task force detectives and deputies from the East Los Angeles sheriff's station also identified two criminal street gangs associated with organized retail theft, authorities said.

"We coordinated with store security, we had a crime analyst that we depend on within our own units and they try to come up with patterns and when it's most likely time the store were being hit, then we coordinated with the stores and that's how we come up with it," said LASD Lt. Robert Peacock.

One suspect was arrested for the alleged theft of a cargo truck.

The sheriff's Burglary-Robbery Task Force partners with the Los Angeles Police Department and participating agencies throughout Los Angeles County to form the recently Organized Retail Theft Task Force.

City News Service, Inc. contributed to this report.