8 arrested after sheriff's seize $2.5 million worth of cash, laptops from Peninsula fencing ring
SAN CARLOS, Calif. (KGO) -- San Mateo County Sheriff's deputies arrested eight people from a major Bay Area fencing operation ring for possession of stolen property, conspiracy and money laundering.
More than $2.5 million in property were discovered, including laptops, smartphones, and high-end TV cameras and lenses worth thousands of dollars.
Captain Mark Duri with the San Mateo Co. Sheriff's Office says it's just a part of the haul from a 6-month investigation spanning San Mateo and San Francisco counties.
"We named it the 'shattered glass' case because most of these come from window smashes," Duri explains.
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Deputies say proceeds from the crimes had been used to buy items including a Tesla, a Maserati, a BMW SUV, and even a Daly City home worth $1.2 million, paid off in just two years.
As many residents are all too aware, the Bay Area is suffering an epidemic of vehicle break-ins and thefts. But San Mateo Co. Sheriff's Dept. says some of the stolen property came from residential burglaries and thefts from retail stores.
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The sheriff's office investigated for information on where much of the stolen merchandise was going, and they discovered that it was being fenced in San Francisco, then brought back to San Mateo for storage before being resold to possible overseas locations.
The ring wasn't responsible for the thefts, but they were responsible for what happened after.
"They were getting the computers that were stolen and they were selling it themselves, so we wanted to go up a level," Duri says.
"If we would have gotten 200 laptops or 300 it would have been a success, but this case netted over 2000 laptops, $150,000 in cash, over $2.5 million collectively," Duri added.
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