Conservative 
Search
Trending
Current News
We support our Publishers and Content Creators. You can view this story on their website by CLICKING HERE.
A trio of shoplifters discovered the hard way that California had finally introduced harsher punishments for shoplifting in the state.
In a viral video posted by the Seal Beach Police Department on Sunday, Dec. 22, the three women could be seen walking into an Ulta Beauty store before leaving with what police said was around $650 of stolen goods. It then shows them entering a Kohls store and stealing almost $1,000 in products.
The clip comes just days after Proposition 36 took effect in the state, which increased punishments for some retail theft and drug possession offenses.
Bodycam footage from Seal Beach officers showed a pursuit for the women, who were ultimately arrested and placed into the back of a patrol car.
“It’s a felony?” one woman asked her acquaintance in the clip.
“Bitch, new laws,” she replies. “Stealing is a felony and this Orange County bitch. They don’t play.”
The three women were identified as Destiny Bender, 24, and Deanna Hines, 24, both from Long Beach, and Michelle Pitts, 26, of Signal Hill. All three were booked into Orange County Jail, charged with Grand Theft, Conspiracy to Commit a Crime and Resisting Arrest.
Many on social media were pleased to see the new laws taking effect.
Others were critical of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s reluctance to support the proposition.
In November, nearly 70% of California voters voted in favor of Proposition 36, officially known as “Allows Felony Charges and Increases Sentences for Certain Drug and Theft Crimes.” It undoes most of the changes that California voters approved in 2014 that turned certain nonviolent crimes into misdemeanors – which was immediately followed by a spike in crime.
Proposition 36 does the following: which does the following:
- Increases the penalty for repeat shoplifters (two or more past convictions) of $950 in value or less from a misdemeanor to a felony, punishable by up to three years in prison.
- Allowing felony sentences for certain crimes such as theft or damage to property to be lengthened if the crime is committed by a group of three or more people.
- Requiring that sentences for certain felonies such as drug dealing be served in prison.
- Allowing people convicted of possession of illegal drugs (specifically those who possess certain drugs such as methamphetamines or fentanyl or those who have two or more past convictions for drug crimes) to be charged with a “treatment-mandated felony” instead of a misdemeanor in some cases. Upon completion of treatment, charges will be dismissed. Upon failure to complete treatment, charges stand and include up to three years in state prison.
- Requiring courts to warn people that they could be charged with murder if they sell or provide illegal drugs (such as methamphetamines, fentanyl, heroin, and cocaine) that kill someone. This could allow for murder charges in the future if they later sell or provide illegal drugs to someone who dies.
