Most occurred in Contra Costa County
By Allen D. Payton
Concord Police arrested 44-year-old Jesse Leonardo Otero of Walnut Creek on Wednesday afternoon, Nov. 22, 2023, for theft from the Veranda shopping center located at 2001 Diamond Blvd. Mr. Ortero was transported to the Concord PD jail and later to the Martinez Detention Facility for theft and resisting/delaying a peace officer. (See related article)
According to localcrimenews.com, Otero has been arrested 86 times since 2017 including 41 arrests in 2023 – sometimes twice in the same day – by multiple Contra Costa and Alameda County law enforcement agencies for a variety of crimes including trespassing, petty theft, public nuisance, possession of a controlled substance, shoplifting of less than $950, receiving or concealing stolen property, resisting arrest, robbery, vandalism and giving false information to a police officer. His arrests include three times in 2017; 10 in 2018; twice in 2019; five in 2020; 12 in 2021; and 13 times in 2022.
An email was sent to Contra Costa District Attorney Diana Becton asking how someone with Otero’s record hasn’t been sentenced to multiple years in jail or prison.
In response, Ted Asregadoo, Contra Costa DA’s Office PIO provided the following statement:
“44-year-old Jesse Leonardo Otero is currently on felony probation for commercial burglary [PC 460(b)]. He was convicted on June 13, 2022, of a felony and was sentenced to 150 days in county jail and placed on two years of formal probation. On the same day, Otero was convicted of a misdemeanor shoplifting offense [PC 459.5] after stealing a gaming controller from a GameStop store. In October 2021, Otero was prosecuted and convicted of two separate counts of misdemeanor vandalism [PC 594(a)]. He was sentenced to 28 days in county jail and a year of probation for the vandalism offenses.
Many of the violations Mr. Otero was cited for in Contra Costa County were low-level, misdemeanor offenses such as trespassing, public nuisance, petty theft, and possession of controlled substances or paraphernalia. Otero’s misdemeanor thefts, for example, include taking a soft drink and candy at a Target store, stealing $27 worth of cosmetics, or shoplifting $50 worth of razor blades.
Our office is working with law enforcement agencies to merge a number of seemingly minor cases for prosecution to seek justice, ensure accountability, and protect our communities. Misdemeanor complaints filed with the court will have multiple incidents that we believe can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.”
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