Organized Retail Theft Arrests 

December 15, 2023 - Riverside County Sheriff's Office officials report that on Wednesday, December 13, 2032, at 4:10 p.m., Thermal Sheriff’s Station deputies responded to a business in the 78700 block of Highway 111 in the city of La Quinta after receiving information from the Palm Desert Special Enforcement Team that a car associated with organized retail theft in Palm Desert, Wildomar, and Lake Elsinore was in the area.

With the assistance of the Indian Wells and Palm Desert Special Enforcement Teams, deputies located the car in the parking lot of a shopping center. They detained the subjects after they exited a store. The investigation found the subjects removed $2,300 of merchandise from a business and made no attempts to pay for the merchandise.

The three suspects taken into custody were:

Khamyra Smith, a 19-year-old resident of Moreno Valley

Derrick Yanders, an 18-year-old resident of Fontana

Chynae Welch, an 18-year-old resident of Eastvale

All three were arrested for Organized Retail Theft and booked into John Benoit Detention Center with a bail of $10,000.

This theft is still under investigation, and anyone with information regarding this incident is urged to contact Deputy B. Martinez of the Thermal Sheriff’s Station’s La Quinta Special Enforcement Team at (760) 863-8990 or call anonymously at (760) 341-STOP (7867) and reference incident #LA233470037.

Reporting Deputy: Sergeant Mark Chlarson

File # LA233470037

Source: Riverside County Sheriff's Office