Sacramento County man allegedly stole $20,000 in Home Depot tools, resold them at pawn shops

Anthony Vargas is accused of stripping more than $20,000 in power tools from Home Depot and Lowe’s stores across Sacramento County, a pattern that investigators say pushed store teams into repeated recovery work, tighter aisle monitoring and more shrink control around high-value merchandise.

Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office Organized Retail Crime detectives linked about 50 thefts to Vargas in an alleged four-month scheme that ran from December 2025 through April 2026. Investigators said the thefts centered on high-value power tools, the kind of inventory that can vanish quickly from the sales floor, force associates to scramble for replacements and leave pro customers waiting for equipment they expect to find in stock.

Authorities said Vargas allegedly stole from multiple Home Depot and Lowe’s locations in Sacramento County and neighboring counties, then moved the merchandise fast through local pawn shops including North City Pawn, Action Loan & Pawn and Gold-n-Pawn. Search warrants at those shops recovered more than $10,000 in stolen merchandise, about half of the property tied to the case, suggesting how quickly theft losses can ripple beyond a single store and into the secondary market.

Vargas was first arrested on multiple counts of grand theft and organized retail theft, with bail set at $100,000. On April 15, the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office said he was released on his own recognizance with pre-trial probation and ordered to stay away from Home Depot and Lowe’s stores in Sacramento County. Within hours, deputies say, he returned to the same pattern and stole a $650 DeWalt table saw from another Home Depot before selling it to a different pawn shop.

Deputies later located Vargas in South Sacramento and arrested him again. A judge raised his bail to $250,000, and he was also booked on a driving on a suspended license charge. His pickup truck was impounded. The Sheriff’s Office said Vargas has prior history involving theft, firearms offenses, possession of a firearm by a felon, narcotics violations and DUI.

The case fits a larger regional trend that Home Depot workers know too well. In July 2025, Sacramento County deputies said another suspect sold more than $70,000 in stolen tools and that investigators recovered more than $16,000 in merchandise, underscoring how organized retail theft keeps pressure on home-improvement stores, from inventory losses to the extra security and recovery work that follows.