Professional burglary crew hit dozens of East Bay stores, police say
HAYWARD — Police here have linked at least 40 burglaries around the Bay Area to a single crew of professional burglars, whose members include an alleged Norteño gangster, court records show.
The crew has been linked to 32 burglaries in southern Alameda County and another eight in San Pablo. Investigators say the crew distinguished itself by going to various shopping centers and hitting virtually every store there in one fell swoop.
Thus far, two suspects have been identified and charged in multiple felony cases, but police are still working to identify several others connected to the group. One of the two young men charged is an alleged member of a gang called the Hayward Original Grip Gettas, or HOGGs, a violent gang whose members have been linked to high-profile killings, including the double homicide of two boys, aged 11 and 14, at an elementary school.
The burglaries include eight that occurred on the same block in San Pablo, all on the same March 2024 day, all using the same stolen Jeep that was also linked to similar break-ins elsewhere in the East Bay, authorities said.
In some, the takings were modest — one ice cream parlor was hit for a single tub of strawberry ice cream worth about $50, though the burglars damaged $500 worth of property to get it.
Others included ATM heists, a $7,500 break-in at a hardware store that included the theft of key programmers that can be used to steal cars, and the burglary of a Hayward forklift store where $160,000 in cash and jewelry was stolen from a safe, authorities said.
One of the suspects in the forklift store was identified by police as Nathaniel Porter, a 21-year-old Oakland man who was charged last January with committing eight commercial burglaries while on probation. But more recently, in March, prosecutors hit Porter with a second burglary case, this time alongside 22-year-old Angel Valencia, of Hayward.
Police allege that Valencia is a self-admitted HOGGs member. The HOGGs, based in Hayward, are a Norteño subset who have had a violent rivalry with another Norteño subset in Union City.
Valencia has been implicated in multiple burglaries, most recently the March 7 break-in of a Vietnamese restaurant in Oakland, where a car stolen from Richmond was used, according to court records.
Both men have been released from jail since the charges were filed, according to court records.