California Attorney General Rob Bonta wants you to know he's tough on crime — so long as the crime is three gambling machines sitting in a Vallejo strip mall. Meanwhile, the state's retail theft and fentanyl crises continue unchecked.
Last week, the Vallejo Police Department and the California Department of Justice executed a search warrant on an establishment on the 2400 block of Sonoma Boulevard, detaining eight people and seizing three multiplayer gambling machines, according to CBS News. Three of those detained were arrested — not for gambling, but on outstanding warrants for failing to appear in court and contempt of court, with bails ranging from $3,000 to $100,000.
"Let this operation serve as a lesson to not bet against the California Department of Justice," Bonta said in a statement. "If you do, your luck will run out, and when it does, we will not hesitate to prosecute you to the full extent of the law."
Three machines. That's what the full extent of the law looks like in a state where organized retail theft has driven stores out of business and fentanyl kills thousands every year. The business, called a "Bi-Zone," had been under investigation since July. The Bureau of Gambling Control prepared the search warrant. Vallejo Police Chief Jason Ta called illegal gambling establishments a "public safety concern that the Vallejo Police Department takes seriously."
Ordinary Californians might ask: seriously compared to what? The state's DOJ has resources for multi-agency raids on small-time gambling dens but can't seem to muster the same urgency for the crimes that have residents locking their doors and businesses boarding up windows.
Contrast this with how law enforcement handles its own. In West Milford, New Jersey, Police Sgt. Thomas Connors, 39, was arrested Oct. 27 and charged with two counts of simple assault after allegedly physically assaulting two patrons at Jessie's Country Kettle, a local deli and pub, while off duty on Sept. 24, the Asbury Park Press reported. The Passaic County Prosecutor's Office public integrity unit made the arrest. Connors faces a maximum of six months per count.
At least New Jersey can hold an officer accountable when he allegedly beats up citizens in a bar. In California, the AG holds a press conference over slot machines.
The suspects in the Vallejo case haven't been named. The investigation, which began in July and culminated in an October dawn raid, netted the equivalent of a handful of outstanding bench warrants. Bonta's victory lap tells you everything about who the California justice system is built to serve — and it isn't the working people watching their communities hollowed out by crimes the state can't be bothered to prosecute.
The open question: how many fentanyl deaths happened while the DOJ was preparing a search warrant for three gambling machines?
