Six men were arrested after working together on over 70 crimes targeting Asian women in California’s Bay Area, according to Santa Clara County authorities.
The six men allegedly committed more than 70 robberies, thefts, and burglaries against Asian women between October 2020 and September 2021. Santa Clara County’s District Attorney’s Office charged the six men with hate crime enhancements after the suspects targeted Asian women and used “ethnic slurs against Asians.”
Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen said:
I decided to charge this also as a hate crime for a few reasons. Number one, it adds additional time in custody, which is appropriate for a case of this magnitude. Number two, I recognize that a hate crime doesn’t only affect the individuals involved… it also affects the people in the Asian American community who were not targeted in that it makes them fearful that they may be next.
San Jose Police Captain Brian Shab revealed that three suspects are in custody. The other three were released. One of the men faces a maximum sentence of 95 years in prison.
One man, who is suspected to be involved in over 30 robberies and thefts, was arrested in August on suspicion of felony robbery and misdemeanor vandalism.
Three of the suspects were arrested and charged with hate crimes in September. Then, in November, authorities made the final arrests after witnesses the last two suspects commit robberies.
Mercury News reported:
Ethnic slurs were allegedly used against some of the women by the three men and officials said the suspects followed the women to their cars in parking lots and waited until they were inside before opening the door or breaking a window to snatch a purse from their passenger seat.
“There is no doubt that these suspects believed they could prey on these victims because of their ethnicity and because of their gender,” Shab said. “They believed that they were going to be easy targets and that they were carrying large sums of cash.”
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