Early Sunday morning, November 28th, Medford Police officers were dispatched to a marijuana dispensary after a business alarm was activated at approximately 5:00am.
First responders discovered the business had been badly damaged upon arrival, and officers also observed that windows had been broken and a metal roll up door had been ripped from the building.
No suspects remained at the scene when officers arrived, and further inspection revealed that cash had been taken from the cash registers, as well as an entire ATM machine, which contained an undisclosed amount of cash.
It was revealed after review of surveillance cameras, that approximately seven suspects, all wearing masks, committed the burglary. Three vehicles were also observed associated with the suspects, who used one of their vehicles to rip the roll up door from the building.
The heavily damaged and empty ATM was found in west Medford less than an hour later Sunday morning.
The case was turned over to detectives Monday morning, November 29th, who quickly learned that the Ashland Police department was investigating a similar marijuana dispensary burglary earlier Monday morning. The Ashland burglary included a safe that had been stolen and later found at 10:17am Monday morning, discarded in the middle of Hemlock Drive.
After detectives received a tip of suspicious activity occurring at an Air-BnB residence, detectives responded to the address at approximately 2:00pm. The same vehicles seen on video in the Medford burglary were observed at the residence, parked in the backyard, behind a fence, in what appeared to be an attempt to conceal them.
Detectives conducted surveillance and observed suspects coming and going from the residence who matched the surveillance video. Additional police personnel responded including elements of the SWAT team and the residence was surrounded.
Officers then attempted contact, but the suspects ran inside. Announcements by officers to exit the residence began at 2:19pm before the suspects began to exit the residence and were taken into custody just before 2:45pm.
Detectives obtained a search warrant on the property and located evidence linking the suspects to both Medford and Ashland burglaries. Six suspects, all from the Oakland and Sacramento California area were arrested on charges of 2nd Degree Burglary, 1st Degree Criminal Mischief, and 1st Degree Theft with similar charges pending for the Ashland case.
