A mob of bikers in California looted three separate 7-Eleven stores in less than 20 minutes just hours after Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a “historic” package to crack down on retail theft.
About 20 bike-riding robbers targeted convenience stores in the Hollywood area two miles away Friday night, According to NBC Los Angelesciting the Los Angeles Police Department.
The brazen group broke into each store and stole food and drinks starting with the 7-Eleven located at 7040 West Sunset Boulevard just after 8 p.m.
He left the store with a broken window.
An employee at a second store near Hollywood Blvd. and Highland Ave. was assaulted around 8:16 p.m., the outlet reported.
A third store on Santa Monica Boulevard was hit at 8:22 p.m.
The Post has reached out to the Los Angeles Police Department.
Friday night’s chaos is the latest smash-and-grab incident to plague the Golden State.
A store manager told the outlet that the teens captured on video surveillance cameras Friday resembled the same group that hit two other 7-Eleven locations in the area last week.
Between 2019 and 2022, California saw a 22% increase in shoplifting and a 16% and 13% increase in burglary and commercial theft, respectively, according to the report. Public Policy Institute of California.
Smash-and-grab thefts have left local and state politicians in a quandary as the latest bipartisan legislation was signed by Newsom on Friday.
The “signature” legislation was signed into law to impose tougher penalties on serial shoplifters, retail thieves and car thieves.
The law also allows for “aggregation of stolen goods, enabling prosecutors to combine the value of multiple stolen items — even across different victims and counties — to help meet the felony threshold for grand larceny.”
Grand theft in California is defined as stolen item(s) valued at more than $950.
“Let’s be clear, this is the most significant piece of property crime legislation in modern California history,” Newsom said. He said on Friday.
“While some are trying to return us to the ineffective and costly policies of the past, these new laws offer a better way forward – making our communities safer and providing useful tools to help law enforcement catch and hold criminals accountable.”
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