Greenfield police hold media briefing on multi-agency Bay Area fuel theft ring operation
Good Morning everyone, I’m Sergeant Jorge Gutierrez with the Greenfield Police Department. Thank you all for, uh, coming here on short notice. Uh, just *** brief statement of what occurred, uh, today. Uh, this morning, Greenfield Police Department along with, uh, the Federal Bureau of Investigations and other law enforcement agencies within the Bay Area, assisted in *** multi-location search warrant uh related to the, uh, criminal investigation of organized fuel theft. Uh, this investigation has been. Uh, it started in Greenfield in August of last year, and once, uh, once it occurred in our city, we learned that there was other locations that also had experienced or other cities that had experienced fuel theft dating back to January of 2024. So, uh, as soon as we received that information, the investigation, um, was taken over by Greenfield, was led by Greenfield along with other agencies that had experienced the same, uh, crime, uh, which led us here to, uh, culminated to today, uh, working in collaboration with all our law enforcement partners from both state, local, and federal agencies in. Executing *** search warrant at 4 locations. Evidence of the crime was located, um, so all that still is on, like I said, an active and ongoing investigation. Any questions? We saw some video of people in handcuffs. Were there people who were arrested at the 4200 Amino? To my knowledge at this moment, at this time, no one has been arrested. Uh, it is common practice, we do sometimes detain people in handcuffs and once we clear *** location, once we determine involvement or non-involvement, they just, uh, we get their information and they’ll be released to my knowledge, no one’s been arrested at this time. What kind of gas was found at the container shed location? So. That all we did take some fuel samples so all that will come come out later, uh, so but we did take fuel samples, uh, specifically I think though, uh, in regards to Greenfield, it’s we were looking at theft of diesel and it’s *** bulk bulk, uh, theft. So like coming from Monterey and and like put here in Oakland or so the theft occurred not only in Greenfield but in other, other parts of Monterey County and other cities as well as other locations here in, in, uh, the Bay Area. And uh we did find, like I said, we did find evidence of the fuel theft and and some items have been recovered and located. When you say evidence was recovered at all four locations or at some locations, not others, can you specify? Uh, I can just say. In totality in kind of like totality of the yes, evidence was found. I don’t know in which specific locations or what specific evidence was found other than evidence was found at the locations. We heard from one of our local lawmakers that uh this was related to *** cartel, uh, so can you speak to that and also, um, the different jurisdictions that had this incident. So that would be news to me. I don’t have any information that this is cartel involved, so I don’t know who your source was for that. Can you also explain what the MO was like how were they getting this or stealing this diesel? So that’s still under that’s still an ongoing investigation. There were different uh methods that uh we’ve been able to identify through our investigation that uh they stole the, they stole the gas. I’m not gonna get into the specifics of which, what mechanisms were used or in which manner they were used, but they were able to successfully, uh, uh, get the gas from the gas pumps and, um, steal them, steal fuel. Or is it multiple different crews in all these different locations that have been investigated right now I believe we believe it’s one crew, but it’s still unknown. I said we have, it’s still an ongoing active investigation with many leads. We saw some tow tow trucks come through with like flatbeds. Is that how the evidence of the Diesel was taken out today or were other pieces of evidence taken out by those? I don’t have, I can’t speak to the reason why the tow trucks were there. That’s that’s an active investigation in regards to that part, and I don’t have that information. You mentioned on your news release that people should let you know if they see some kind of suspicious activity at *** gas station, and I’m wondering if you could elaborate on what They should be looking for or what you meant by that, right? Well, I mean just like, just like be vigilant, right? I mean if uh if you see something that doesn’t uh sit right with you, somebody loitering, lingering around, toying with toying with the, with the card readers, uh, please report that as you know, you know, card skimmers get not related to this case, uh, but in general we have. With card skimmers being installed at gas stations being installed at uh other stores and so yeah, anything that you feel that is uh appears suspicious people playing with the the card readers playing with the keypads, um, take try maybe trying to manipulate them and take them apart, yeah, give us, uh, give law enforcement *** call. Oh, I’m sorry. So was it that they were like stealing it through the card readers, or was it that they were somehow accessing the lines to be able to like fill up? I can tell you that all I can tell you is that the fuel pump, the fuels was being accessed. I’m not going to get into the details in the, in the manner in which they were accessed. That’s still an active part of the investigation. Were there particular gas stations that were targeted in *** specific time or was it kind of. It was pretty much all all over the place, random random gas stations, uh, you know, there was shell and mom and pop types all hours of the day, uh, in Greenfield it was in the early morning hours. I can’t speak to the other, the other, uh, jurisdictions. I don’t have that information. In your press release, you also talked about the danger of this theft given that you’re dealing with fuel chemicals. Can you speak to that? Well, yes, so obviously when fuel gets delivered to the gas stations they got fuel tanks, right? They’re all insulated protected they got hazmat warnings on there so they can protect the public so it can be safely transported and delivered to its location, right? In this situation we don’t believe that was used so that is *** very dangerous way to. Travel with fuel, it could, it puts the public at risk. Uh, it’s not ***, it’s not *** it’s not regulated it’s not COSA it’s not, uh, *** tanker that’s insulated to be able to transport, uh, that that type of chemical that fuel. So yeah, that it causes *** danger to, to the public and *** danger to everybody that’s on the road. I’m sorry, how many cities or jurisdictions? Uh, let’s see, off the top of my head, I know, so it was Greenfield Police Department, um, Monterey Police Department for also from Monterey County. Monterey County Sheriff’s Office was involved, Oakland Police Department, San Mateo, uh, San Leandro, uh, California Highway Patrol, and FBI, and I could be missing *** few agencies and Richmond in terms of where the actual thefts happened, the thefts, uh. So I know, I know Monterey County, Carmel, Monterey, Greenfield, uh, I don’t know the other cities. Why is the Raymond location was just, I’m sorry, the Richmond location was to try and find somebody or to find. It’s, it’s all, it’s all related to the investigation, evidence of the crime. I’m wondering why Greenfield is leading, uh, the investigation if so many different places were involved in these thefts, right? So, so back in August when, uh, the theft occurred in our city. Uh, we ended up taking over the investigation based on because we had leads and our leads ended up because of what happened in Greenfield we were able to learn that this had been occurring prior to August in other cities as well as after it occurred in Greenfield, so we ended up taking the lead and then we. Brought in our law enforcement partners to assist, so it’s not necessarily that like the gas was taken from Monterey and brought here to Oakland. It’s more that you’re assisting agencies where they’re finding evidence of these deaths occurring in other cities. All that will come out later, but yes, you’re on the right track. On the right path, OK, good. Were there any chemical spills or anything like that connected to these thefts? I don’t believe so. No, nothing that’s been, uh, we’ve been made aware of. Nothing’s been made aware of to any of the other agencies that were involved today. It’s *** sense of the financial scope of this. I mean, what kind of are we talking about theft from like mom and pop places, like hundreds of dollars, or are you talking? No, we’re talking, uh, based on what I can share with you, we’re looking at probably 100s of thousands, 100s of thousands of dollars. Yeah, it’s still, we’re still trying to figure out the actual dollar amount. The FBI here Again, you know, uh, federal partners, you know, force multipliers, they have resources. Greenfield PD is *** really small agency in Monterey County. Uh, we can’t, we couldn’t do what we do without the help of our part of our law enforcement partners. So FBI is *** force multiplier. They provide *** lot of resources, *** lot of help, things that, uh, we can do, especially when it’s out of, it’s out of our area. OK, all right, cool, thank you very much for your time.
Greenfield police hold media briefing on multi-agency Bay Area fuel theft ring operation
Updated: 2:56 PM PST Jan 21, 2026
Greenfield police said they are leading a multi-agency response in the East Bay Area cities of Oakland, Richmond, and San Leandro involving a statewide fuel theft ring.Greenfield Police Chief Guillermo Mixer said they, along with the FBI, Monterey police, the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office, the Oakland Police Department, the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office, the San Leandro Police Department, and the California Highway Patrol, are present for the operation.Search warrants were served at the following locations as part of this investigation: 4200 block of Alameda Avenue, Oakland1000 block of 45th Avenue, Oakland1600 block of 6th Street, Richmond3100 block of Alvarado Avenue, San Leandro Mixer stated that the operation at the Port of Oakland is linked to thefts of gasoline and diesel at service stations in Greenfield, Monterey, and other counties across the Bay Area. He added that investigators believe the port may be the ring’s home base of operations.Mixer also said Greenfield has been targeted multiple times. He cited one recent case at a Shell station in Greenfield, where thieves made off with “thousands of dollars worth of gas.”Further details are not immediately available, as the operation is ongoing.”These enforcement actions are not related to immigration enforcement and did not involve Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). This investigation is strictly criminal in nature and focused on organized fuel theft activity,” Greenfield police said in a social media post. Greenfield police said a media conference will be held to address the case and provide additional updates.Stay with KSBW 8 for the latest details as they become available.
OAKLAND, Calif. —
Greenfield police said they are leading a multi-agency response in the East Bay Area cities of Oakland, Richmond, and San Leandro involving a statewide fuel theft ring.
Greenfield Police Chief Guillermo Mixer said they, along with the FBI, Monterey police, the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office, the Oakland Police Department, the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office, the San Leandro Police Department, and the California Highway Patrol, are present for the operation.
Search warrants were served at the following locations as part of this investigation:
4200 block of Alameda Avenue, Oakland1000 block of 45th Avenue, Oakland1600 block of 6th Street, Richmond3100 block of Alvarado Avenue, San Leandro
Mixer stated that the operation at the Port of Oakland is linked to thefts of gasoline and diesel at service stations in Greenfield, Monterey, and other counties across the Bay Area.
He added that investigators believe the port may be the ring’s home base of operations.
Mixer also said Greenfield has been targeted multiple times. He cited one recent case at a Shell station in Greenfield, where thieves made off with “thousands of dollars worth of gas.”
Further details are not immediately available, as the operation is ongoing.
“These enforcement actions are not related to immigration enforcement and did not involve Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). This investigation is strictly criminal in nature and focused on organized fuel theft activity,” Greenfield police said in a social media post.
Greenfield police said a media conference will be held to address the case and provide additional updates.
Stay with KSBW 8 for the latest details as they become available.