More guilty pleas in California-wide ‘Operation Sticky Fingers’ retail cannabis theft case
SANTA CRUZ — An additional three men implicated in the statewide “Operation Sticky Fingers” retail cannabis theft case pleaded guilty to charges Thursday.
In deals coordinated by the state Attorney General’s Office, Dante Williams Jr., 22, Kalif Collins, 24 and Antonio Gainey Jr., 39, were among the 24 men charged with retail theft and burglary relating to cannabis facilities spread over nine counties in nine months. Four co-defendants similarly struck plea deals and were convicted earlier this month, leaving more than a dozen remaining on track to a preliminary hearing.
The 15 mob-style burglaries charged involved after-hours theft of about a combined 1,000 pounds of marijuana plants and other cannabis retail items valued at more than $1 million, California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced after the arrests. While the thefts spanned Santa Cruz, Solano, Kern, Monterey, San Luis Obispo, Merced, Fresno, Sonoma and San Diego counties, six of the break-ins listed in criminal complaints occurred in Santa Cruz County. The local businesses included Highway One Distribution in Santa Cruz, Catalyst Cannabis in Watsonville, Jade Coast in Watsonville, Strong Agronomy in Watsonville, 3 Bros Dispensary in Soquel and The Hook in Watsonville.
Gainey, who was temporarily transferred to Santa Cruz County Superior Court while serving time in prison after a Solano County conviction, had an additional 16 months of confinement due to a past criminal strike added onto his existing four-year sentence. Collins faced a two-year probation sentence and 90 days in Santa Cruz County Jail, with a surrender date pushed back as late as Feb. 1. Williams was sentenced to serve two years in jail, beginning on or before Feb. 1 and two years subsequent probation.
After their time served and good-time credits were calculated, Williams was expected to serve a total of 193 days in jail. The three men were also individually ordered to pay restitution to affected businesses, calculated by each co-defendant’s involvement in the burglaries, with Williams at about $1.2 million, Collins at about $142,000 and Gainey at about $367,000.