Smash and Grab Sneaker Store Robber Charged With Theft

<p>A &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;smash and grab” robber who invaded a high-end sneaker store in Santa Clara multiple times late last year faces prison if convicted of charges filed last week by Santa Clara District Attorney&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Gregory Jefferson&comma; 19&comma; was arrested in his Pittsburgh home in January&period; Inside the home&comma; Santa Clara police found 30 boxes of luxury sneakers&comma; clothing&comma; and hangers with the store’s name on it&period; They also seized a &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;ghost gun” assault weapon with a 30-round magazine loaded with ammunition&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The defendant&comma; who is in custody on a &dollar;500&comma;000 bail&comma; was arraigned on organized retail theft&comma; commercial burglary&comma; grand theft&comma; possession of stolen property&comma; and assault weapon felony charges&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;During the holiday season&comma; there was a lot of attention on organized store invasions throughout the Bay Area&comma;” District Attorney Jeff Rosen said&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Now&comma; I hope there will be attention on the determined and ongoing efforts of law enforcement to stop&comma; arrest&comma; and prosecute them&period; In this case&comma; a Santa Clara detective and our Crime Strategies Unit worked as a team to take a dangerous criminal off the streets&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Soon after 1&colon;00 a&period;m&period; on November 23&comma; 2021&comma; a group of about 18 people forced their way into The Fix Kicks store in the Santa Clara Town Center&period; A 9mm firearm was used to break into the business&period; The group stole approximately &dollar;80&comma;000 worth of merchandise&period; Just five days later&comma; right before 11&colon;30 p&period;m&period;&comma; 28 people broke into the same store&period; This time using a saw to get through a metal security gate&period; About &dollar;112&comma;000 worth of merchandise was stolen&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Santa Clara Police Detective Adam Wilson conducted an investigation and was able to identify that Jefferson was an active participant in both robberies&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Because of the repeated robberies and significant losses&comma; The Fix Kicks was forced to change its business model&period; Since November&comma; the store has closed the retail location and is only conducting online sales&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;