U.S.! theft, shoplifting, identity theft, fraud, fire, murder 2024.12.19-12.24

Busted thieves baffled by ‘new laws’ in California that make shoplifting a felony, police video shows

An accused California shoplifter was stunned to learn she might be slapped with a felony charge after “new laws” that crack down on low-level theft, police video shows.

The Seal Beach Police Department in Orange County published a montage of security, dash and body camera videos that show three women allegedly lifting more than $600 in merch from an Ulta Beauty before officers caught up with the gals, slapped them in cuffs and shoved them into a squad car.

That was when one suspect asks if they could be charged with a felony, to which her accomplice delivers the sobering news: “B—h, new laws. Stealing is a felony.”

“This is Orange County, b—h. They don’t play,” lamented the alleged thief.

The new laws in question are Proposition 36 — a ballot initiative that went into effect Wednesday undoing soft-on-crime policies limiting law enforcement’s ability to crack down on lesser crimes like shoplifting.

Under one law passed in 2014, thieves could only be charged with a misdemeanor if the stolen items they were less than $950.

But that law coincided with a surge in retail theft, prompting an outcry from citizens and businesses alike and pushing politicians to finally reverse course.

Nearly 70% of voters cast ballots in favor of Prop 36.

“Here in Seal Beach we never believed in the cite and release program, but this new proposition only strengthens our commitment to combatting Organized Retail Theft,” Seal Beach PD wrote in the caption of the video, which was set to Nancy Sinatra’s “These Boots are Made for Walkin.’”

“Remember folks, Don’t Steal in Seal,” it added.

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Video shows moments shoplifting suspects discuss new California laws in back of Seal Beach patrol car

A recently viral video shows the moments that two shoplifters discuss Proposition 36, one of the new laws in effect in California that now makes stealing a felony, while sitting in the back of a police car.

The video, which was shared on Sunday by the Seal Beach Police Department, follows along with a trio of shoplifting suspects as they hit multiple stores back on Dec. 4, making off which more than $1,600 in stolen merchandise.

The suspects first enter an Ulta Beauty store at around 7:12 p.m., where police say they took off with almost $650 worth of stolen merchandise. Less than an hour later, they enter a Kohl’s store, where they reportedly stole more than $1,180 worth of items. They can then be seen as they leave the store, walking through the parking lot with stolen items in tow.

Suddenly, the video cuts to body camera footage of police chasing the suspects through a parking lot before they’re arrested, according to a statement released on Monday.

The suspects have been identified as Destiny Bender, 24, and Deanna Hines, 24, of Long Beach and 26-year-old Signal Hill woman Michelle Pitts. All three were booked on charges of grand theft, conspiracy to commit a crime and resisting arrest.

Video shows two of those suspects sitting handcuffed in the back of a patrol car.

“It’s a felony?” one can be heard asking.

“B—h new laws,” the other responds. “Stealing is a felony. And this is Orange County b—h they don’t play.”

Seal Beach police offered an explanation of the new changes in effect across California.

“Proposition 36, which voters approved in November 2024, creates stricter penalties for organized theft and expands law enforcement capabilities to combat repeat offenders,” the Seal Beach police statement says. “Specifically, it permits felony charges for petty theft with prior convictions, allows aggregating the value of stolen goods from multiple thefts to meet the $950 felony threshold, and introduces enhancements for theft crimes involving two or more offenders acting in concert.”

The video was set to the tune of “These Boots Are Made For Walkin’” by Nancy Sinatra, likely alluding to the large furry boots worn by one of the suspects.

Police say that the release of the video is a part of their “Don’t Steal in Seal” campaign, which highlights arrests and looks to educate the public on the consequences of committing crimes in their city.

“The campaign has received widespread praise for this innovative approach and effectiveness in engaging the community,” the department release said.

A Guatemalan migrant has been arrested for allegedly lighting a sleeping subway rider on fire in Brooklyn on Sunday morning — then watching as his innocent victim burned to death in what the police commissioner called “one of the most depraved crimes one person could possibly commit.”

The savage killing — which happened at about 7:30 a.m. on an idling F train at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue station — shocked commuters, MTA workers and NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, who said Sunday that the heinous crime “took the life of an innocent New Yorker.”

“As the train pulled into the station, the suspect calmly walked up to the victim, who was in a seated position at the end of a subway car … and used what we believe to be a lighter to ignite the victim’s clothing, which became fully engulfed in a matter of seconds,” Tisch said at a press conference.

Patrolling cops smelled and saw the smoke, then followed it to the flame-covered woman, the commissioner said.

They extinguished the blaze, but the victim died at the scene.

Officials said the 33-year-old suspect came to the US in 2018 from Guatemala. His legal status wasn’t immediately clear Sunday night.

Horrifying video obtained by The Post showed the suspect calmly looking on as flames consumed the still-unidentified woman, who stood inside the open subway car door.

A transit cop walked by, and seemed to pull out a radio and say something as they continued down the platform.

After the cop passed, the suspect got up as if to walk away — then the clip cut off.

In another video, cops yelled to the gathered crowd, “Did anybody see anything? Did anybody see anything?” as smoke poured from inside the subway car.

The suspect brazenly sat on a nearby bench as cops huddled around, pulling his hood up at one point just before an officer spoke to him.

“Do me a favor? Walk down there,” the cop said, motioning down the platform with his radio. “I need this space cleared up.”

The man stood up, then left the scene.

“Unbeknownst to the officers who responded, the suspect had stayed on the scene and was seated on a bench on the platform just outside the train car,” Tisch said.

“The body-worn cameras on the responding officers produced a very clear, detailed look at the killer.”

Later in day, three high schoolers called police to say they saw the man pictured in images released by the NYPD at the Jay and York Street station on the F line, according to Tisch and the NYPD’s Chief of Transit Joseph Gulotta.

When transit officers responded to that call, they found the suspect already on another train leaving the station — and wearing the same gray hoodie, wool hat and paint-splattered pants he’d been wearing when he allegedly torched the woman.

Cops called ahead and halted the train at Herald Square. Then, they went from car to car until they found the suspect and arrested him, police officials said.

Tisch said the suspect had a lighter in his pocket when he was picked up.

“I want to thank the young people who called 911 to help,” Tisch said. “They saw something, and they said something, and they did something.”

Gulotta echoed her comments, calling the arrest “amazing work done by the public and the police working together.”

Police don’t believe the migrant and the victim knew each other before the killing, Gulotta added.

Earlier in the morning, cops, firefighters and medical examiner personnel clad in white Tyvek suits combed the tracks for evidence after they cordoned off the area.

Around 1 p.m., authorities carried a body bag containing the woman’s corpse out of the train and placed it on a gurney. Then they wheeled it over to a medical examiner van and moved it inside.

The woman has not yet been identified.