ROSEVILLE, CA — “Between March and April, Roseville faced a strange crime wave 0f deodorant bandits.
Suspects hit a Roseville Safeway and CVS stores hard, swiping so much deodorant that losses racked up to $15,000.
The two suspects weren’t just stocking up for personal freshness — they were stealing deodorant all across Northern California and flipping it to a third suspect, who was knowingly buying the stolen goods and reselling them at Bay Area flea markets. Because nothing says “great deal” like flea market deodorant.
Enter Operation Pit-Stain.
With the help of Santa Clara police, Placer County DA Investigators, and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Crisis Response Unit, we arrested both deodorant thieves and
the illegal reseller. We also recovered approximately $50,000 worth of stolen deodorant, shampoo, toothpaste, and other bathroom shelf toiletries.
