Some of the stolen merchandise from The Home Depot recovered from Alderete’s truck. Photo: HPD
By Hercules Police Department
On January 29, 2021, at 11:19 am, an officer located a vehicle associated with multiple thefts from The Home Depot throughout the state.
On January 28, 2021, Hercules Officers were alerted of a suspect known throughout the state to steal items from The Home Depot and then make returns on some of the items stolen to make back the money for the purchased item. The Home Depot has been working cases for this suspect for over three years and believes he has stolen over $4.5 million from The Home Depot. Since September of last year, it is confirmed that the suspect had stolen over $500,000 from multiple different Home Depot stores up and down the west coast.
An officer located the suspect vehicle, a 2006 Ford Econoline Van, backed into a 1500 Sycamore Avenue parking stall. Officers waited for the man, identified as Miguel Alderete, age 49 of Hercules and Los Angeles, to return to his vehicle, where he was contacted and detained. His vehicle’s search resulted in approximately $10,000 of stolen merchandise from The Home Depot in the van. The occupants of the van were arrested and transported to jail.
A multi-state organized retail theft crew was apprehended after four years of stealing from The Home Depot. The estimated loss during that time is about $4.5 million. This crew averages about $105,000 per month in thefts.
After eluding multiple agencies, Hercules Police were able to catch the culprits, including a second suspect, identified as Antonio Marquez, age 56 from Southern California, in a shopping center across from The Home Depot. The crew had approximately $10,000 of merchandise in their possession from thefts that day in Tracy, Fairfield and Vallejo.
Allen Payton contributed to this report.
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