DATE: June 11, 2024

CASE: Ningning Sun (Case #23FE019613)

PROSECUTOR: Deputy District Attorney Adrianne McMillan, Organized Retail Theft Unit

Ningning Sun pled no contest to felony charges of acting as an agent involved in organized retail theft, attempted grand theft, receipt of stolen property and unlawful possession of an access card. He also pled to a misdemeanor count of resisting a police officer.

Sun was arrested during the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Blitz Operation in December 2023. He was observed in a Target store taking gift cards from his person and reshelving them while taking new gifts cards from the shelf and concealing them on his person. He then left the store without paying for them and attempted to flee when law enforcement tried to contact him. When he was captured, approximately 200 stolen gift cards fell out of his clothing. A search of Sun’s car revealed more than 5,000 gift cards from Target locations throughout the state. The cards were in bags labeled “done” and “not complete.”  The cards in the “done” bag contained gift cards that had been tampered with and ready to be reshelved so money could be siphoned off them once a customer bought them. The cards in the “not complete” bags contained cards that were not yet tampered with.

Further investigation linked Sun to the stolen access cards from various Target locations and showed he was acting on behalf of others. Detectives located “pay/owe” sheets containing more than 140 names, numbers, payment periods and time limits for pay back. Data from his car showed he drove to Target stores in California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana,  Arkansas, Tennessee and Illinois. It was determined he was acting as a runner and organizer for a larger organized crime network. The amount of intended loss from the gift cards ranged from $31,125 to $2,869,000, depending on how much was placed on the cards by possible future victims who purchased them.

Sun was sentenced to 3 years and 8 months in county jail prison, with 1 year of his sentence to be served in custody and the remaining 2 years and 8 months to be served on mandatory supervision.  He was also ordered to stay away from all Target locations and to pay restitution to Target in an amount to be determined.