Fifteen people were arrested and more than $3,000 in property was recovered during a weeks-long retail theft crackdown across Rancho Cucamonga shopping corridors, San Bernardino County authorities announced. The operation, which ran from September 12 through October 3, resulted in 15 arrests.
The sweep was the latest round of Operation Smash & Grab, according to a statement from the San Bernardino County Sheriff
, which described investigators using both conventional and non-conventional investigative methods to target organized theft crews. The operation drew on a wide roster of partners, including the Sheriff's Department's Gangs/Narcotics Division, the Rancho Cucamonga Station, the San Bernardino County Probation Department, Homeland Security Investigations, the California Highway Patrol, and the San Bernardino Police Department.
Proposition 36, the voter-approved measure that took effect December 18, 2024, reformed multiple laws from the earlier Proposition 47. Charges stemming from Prop 36 can carry enhanced sentencing.
How Prop 36 Changed the Math for Repeat Offenders
Proposition 36, formally the Homelessness, Drug Addiction and Theft Reduction Act, was passed by California voters in November 2024 and established Penal Code Section 666.1, according to the Shouse Law Group. The statute lets prosecutors charge shoplifting or petty theft under $950 as a felony punishable by up to three years in prison for anyone with two or more prior theft convictions, regardless of how little merchandise was taken in the latest incident.
Under the same code section, defendants charged with felony repeat theft must be evaluated by a judge before any pre-trial release, per the Legal Information Guide. Separately, the law also restored the state's ability to combine stolen item values across multiple incidents to meet the $950 felony grand theft threshold.
A Recurring Fight in Rancho Cucamonga's Shopping Districts
Operation Smash & Grab operates across shopping districts in Rancho Cucamonga, Apple Valley, Hesperia, Victorville, and Chino Hills, targeting organized crews that conspire to commit robberies, burglaries, shelf sweeps, and vandalism. Sheriff Shannon D. Dicus launched the initiative in November 2023 after the department noted a significant rise in organized theft crews using intimidation tactics across commercial centers, according to the Sierra Sun Times.
Funding and Statewide Context Behind the Sweeps
The San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors has authorized funds for county-wide crime suppression, providing additional funding to the Sheriff's Department that allows for increased law enforcement services addressing quality-of-life issues across county communities. That local funding sits inside a much larger state push: California launched a $267 million multi-year grant initiative in 2023, distributed across 55 local law enforcement agencies and district attorneys' offices, to fund specialized organized retail theft enforcement and prosecution teams, according to the Office of the Governor of California.
In 2025, the California Highway Patrol's Organized Retail Crime Task Force conducted more than 500 investigations, made nearly 800 arrests, and recovered more than 150,000 goods valued at $8.6 million. Those numbers came even as property crimes across California fell 8% in 2024, according to Department of Justice reporting cited by the Davis Vanguard — a statistic that frames local operations like this one as part of a broader statewide decline rather than a response to worsening crime overall.
Anyone with information related to retail theft crews operating in these shopping corridors is encouraged to contact the Sheriff's Department Gangs/Narcotics Division at (909) 387-3700.
