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We have recently witnessed a spate of “organized retail thefts,” large groups of sometimes armed invaders rushing a store and taking the inventory. These attacks are reportedly organized using social media tools, and it may well be that the planners and perps don’t even know each other’s identities. The media report that “few arrests” are made in these cases. That sounds like a failure of law enforcement, but maybe it isn’t. Let’s zoom in on one such arrest and see what the defendant may be facing.
The most widely covered of these attacks are occurring in California. I am not a California lawyer, so my speculations here are as much an invitation to “real” California lawyers as anything else. Still, I can read enough to raise some possibilities.
In California, I hear, stealing less than $950 is a misdemeanor, and some of these fellows may believe that, if caught with such a small amount, they will face no more than a misdemeanor charge, with no significant bail or jail time. In that, I suspect they are wrong. Rather, each participant in an organized theft is an accomplice or co-conspirator in the entire theft, liable for the theft of everything stolen and all damage done. That’s not a misdemeanor. In addition, if any participant in the attack is…