San Diego Area Ross Shoplifting Ring Sentenced

Three members of a shoplifting ring centered around Ross stores in San Diego County were sentenced.

By Steven Bartholow 5:54pm

Shoplifters who stole about $300,000 worth of merchandise from Ross Dress for Less stores around San Diego and in Santee over a two-year period were sentenced on Friday.

Benita Rubio, 47, and Heriberto Tolentino, 42, were each sentenced to two years in state prison, while Diana Palazios, 37, was sentenced to a full year in county jail, with no credits for good behavior, said prosecutor Anna Winn.

Maria Delaluz Oros, 46, and William Cruz Pena, 26, two others implicated in the ring, will be sentenced later.

All five pleaded guilty last month to conspiracy and receiving stolen property. The five had previously pleaded not guilty.

The shoplifters, all Mexican nationals who lived in San Marcos, were arrested Jan. 5 after being pulled over in Encinitas in two cars packed with an estimated $6,000 worth of clothes and accessories from a Ross clothing store. Due to the size of the load, Sgt. Tom Poulin said, they “could barely sit in the backseat of their cars.â€