The pursuit of a suspect by the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office for a car burglary ended up uncovering a Bay Area pawn shop that was part of a nationwide operation fencing stolen goods earlier this year.

Back in April, deputies began the searching for a suspect in the car burglary in Stockton’s Lincoln Center. During the course of that investigation served a search warrant on the man – a documented gang member from Richmond.

A cell phone that was recovered as part of the operation contained correspondence between the suspect and the owner of the Oromax Pawn Shop in Richmond – showcasing stolen merchandise and inquiring how much he would get for bringing it in.

When officers obtained a warrant to search the pawn shop, they found a trove of stolen items – cell phones, laptops, tablet computers, cameras, etc. – that was reclaimed by the sheriff’s office in an attempt to reunite victims with their stolen property.

And this past week they were able to do just that.

Amongst the cache of stolen goods were a pair of racing “drones” that were valued at more than $5,000 that were returned back to the owner, and the work to identify the items and return them to their legal owners continues.

While the pawn shop in Richmond appeared to serve as a regional fencing operation for thieves from the Bay Area as well as the wider Northern California area – and some of those that were targeted in the burglaries or armed robberies were travelers who were visiting the Bay Area – the likelihood is high that items stolen from the Central Valley also ended up there.

The San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office spent hours, according to a statement, cataloguing all of the items that were recovered from the pawn shop, and have compiled a database of the items that can be browsed by victims looking to reclaim their property.

A Dropbox folder containing photos of the stolen items posted by the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office is still active – it can be found by going to https://tinyurl.com/2p9eah4t – and those that have serial numbers or other identifying information that can prove ownership of the items depicted in the photos can contact the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office at 209.468.4400 for more information about how to proceed further.

To contact Bulletin reporter Jason Campbell email jcampbell@mantecabulletin.com or call 209.249.3544.