FBI Recovers $13.8 Million in Stolen Cargo : Crime: Operation Pinlock results in 31 indictments and recovery of goods ranging from $13,000 in salad dressing to $1.3 million in tennis rackets.

A Southern California sting operation to combat cargo theft has resulted in 31 indictments and the recovery of $13.8 million in stolen property, federal authorities announced Wednesday.

Despite the size of the operation, officers made only a dent in the huge amount of cargo theft in the area, Charlie J. Parsons, special agent in charge of the Los Angeles FBI office, said at a news conference. He said $1 million a day in cargo is stolen in the area, mostly in truck hijackings and thefts at the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports.

Over a 14-month period, “entire tractor-trailer rigs filled with cargo, as well as loads stolen from other rigs,” were bought by the FBI, Parsons said. During the investigation, he said, the FBI purchased almost $14 million in stolen goods--paying about 7 cents on the dollar.

“Our least expensive trailer load consisted of 3,800 cases of salad dressing--valued at $13,000,” Parsons said. “Our most expensive load was a trailer filled with 6,000 tennis rackets worth $1.3 million.”

FBI sources said videocassette recorders, television sets, cases of J & B scotch, G.I. Joe toys, mountain bicycles and baby strollers were among the other goods recovered.

Dubbed Operation Pinlock, the effort was the most significant cargo theft investigation ever mounted by the Central District of California, U.S. Atty. Terree A. Bowers said. The Central District spans seven counties from San Bernardino to San Luis Obispo.

Bowers said that dozens of FBI agents, along with officers from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, the California Highway Patrol, the Los Angeles Police Department, the Vernon Police Department and the Los Angeles Port Police participated in the task force.

Bowers said authorities have arrested 24 of the 31 people indicted over the last year. He said that 10 of the 24 have pleaded guilty. So far, the longest sentence imposed is 47 months, Bowers said. He said one person who was indicted was charged in three separate cases.

Parsons expressed concern about a rising tide of violence connected with the thefts. He said there have been five homicides stemming from cargo thefts in the last 14 months.

Jim Botting, chief of the FBI’s interstate theft unit, said the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office has charged suspects believed to have killed a La Mirada security guard in September. Botting said the slaying of a trucker who refused to surrender his goods to thieves this fall remains unsolved.

Parsons and Bowers displayed a chart showing the month-by-month recovery of goods since Operation Pinlock was launched in October, 1991. The period in which the least was recovered was May, 1992, after the Los Angeles riots.

“This is a testimonial to the argument that an increased police presence will deter crime,” Parsons said.