Woman charged with stealing $300K from California retailers

COSTA MESA, Calif. (AP) — A woman has been charged with grand theft for allegedly stealing more than $300,000 in merchandise from retail stores in California. Prosecutors say the woman was arrested last month after an investigator with the California Highway Patrol’s Organized Retail Theft task force saw her stealing from a Nordstrom Rack in Costa Mesa. When members of the task force searched her apartment, they found more than $328,000 worth of stolen merchandise. Investigators believe she attempted to sell stolen merchandise through a luxury online consignment store. The charge comes amid a rash of large-scale thefts in California in which groups of individuals brazenly rush into stores and take goods in plain sight.