SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – San Diego Police Department’s Economic Crimes unit told ABC 10News there’s a group of people not waking up to the smell of fresh coffee in the morning.
“The evidence we have shows that these groups wake up in the morning, and their mission is to go out into that community and steal as much as they can,” Sgt. Luke Johnson, San Diego Police Department, said.
SDPD said it noticed a spike in jewelry theft and street robbery cases at the beginning of 2021 all across the county.
Johnson told ABC 10News this crime ring, which is connected to a group running nationwide, allegedly steals from people in the parking lots of places like Costo, Home Depot and Seafood City in broad daylight.
“They share intelligence with each other on where Asian markets are within the county. We have seen evidence of them traveling from market to market, targeting those communities. Typically, Asian communities and they’re typically targeting our elderly population,” Johnson said.
Johnson says they’ll reportedly ask these victims for help, thank them for their kindness with a gift and then use sleight of hand to take the jewelry or sometimes by force.
“Typically, they’ll put a fake necklace on you and offer it up as a blessing or a thank you for your assistance. And at the same time, they’ll remove your gold necklace that you’re wearing. They do that with watches and rings as well, “Johnson said.
And it doesn’t stop at the parking lot.
“Oftentimes, the people that are shopping these markets live within the community. So, they’re just walking home from the grocery store. So we do see that neighborhoods are getting targeted as well,” Johnson said.
Pida Kongphouthone is a Lao community organizer who spoke to a victim who was robbed of his religious jewelry. He told us a lot of the items which are stolen are sacred.
“They’re family heirlooms. They’re treasured mementos from grandparents or other family members, and they’re just irreplaceable,” Kongphouthone said.
There’s several things SDPD said people can do to protect themselves, like travel in numbers, look around in case someone’s following them and call the police if they feel someone’s following.
Police also said one of the things you can do if you feel like you’re being followed by one of these potential thieves is to take out your phone and act like you’re recording them. Or you could actually record them. Amenity is one of their biggest concerns, and they don’t want to be seen or caught on film.
With 13 arrests in the past nine months, SDPD and other community organizers are asking for the public’s help in tracking down more of this crime ring.
“If they have information, please come forward. Please share this. Please call SDPD; please call us. We’re happy to relay any information so that we can, you know, get all of these bad guys off the street,” Bobbie Oudinarath, another Lao community organizer, said.
Since SDPD has been putting out information about the suspect crime ring, they’ve been getting calls daily from victims who’ve not reported the crime.
Johnson told ABC 10News that some of the victims are embarrassed and don’t want to tell the story of how they were scammed.
