A large organized retail theft ring targeting T.J. Maxx stores in the Bay Area and other California locations was broken up, with multiple arrests in San Jose and the recovery of more than $380,000 in stolen merchandise, authorities said Tuesday. 

The Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office said in a press release that its retail theft task force arrested eight people on August 12 after serving warrants at four homes and a storage unit with the help of the District Attorney's Office, Gilroy Police Department, and Mountain View Police Department. Several other suspects are still being sought.

The probe began in May after T.J. Maxx investigators alerted the Sheriff's Office that an organized crew was targeting multiple store locations across the Bay Area, sometimes committing thefts several times a day, the office said. It's believed the stolen merchandise was being resold at flea markets in San Jose.

During the following months, detectives from the Sheriff's Office and the District Attorney's Office monitored the group's activities and identified 16 suspects and five locations where the stolen property was being stored or trafficked. According to the Sheriff's Office, the crew is linked to at least 80 thefts at T.J. Maxx stores, resulting in $53,000 in losses. 

The Sheriff's Office told CBS News that the Bay Area stores hit were in the cities of Castro Valley, Colma, Daly City, Dublin, Foster City, Livermore, Redwood City, San Carlos, San Leandro, San Mateo and San Ramon. Other stores robbed were in Sacramento, San Joaquin, and San Bernardino counties in the cities of Citrus Heights, Tracy, Ontario and Rancho Cucamonga, respectively, the office said.

At a home on Dobern Avenue east of Mayfair Park and south of Alum Rock Avenue in East San Jose, detectives arrested 20-year-old Christian Hernandez, 44-year-old Esmeralda Hernandez Guzman, and 23-year-old Jazmine Sanchez Valencia and recovered over $225,000 in stolen merchandise along with illegal drugs, the Sheriff's Office said. 

Detectives also served a warrant at another home in East San Jose on Giannotta Way, just west of N. Capitol Avenue and north of McKee Road. They arrested 66-year-old Maria Sanchez and recovered more than $100,000 in stolen goods, along with narcotics, the office said. 

Also arrested were Jose Guzman, 32; Derek Montes Rios, 19; Stephanie Juarez Polvos, 29; and Rigoberto Hernandez Guzman, 36. The suspects face charges of organized retail theft, conspiracy, grand theft, and receiving stolen property.

The Sheriff's Office said that some of the suspects arrested are related and several are cousins. The office also identified three other people still at large and five other unidentified suspects. The three known suspects still being sought were identified as Juan Molas, 41; Kevin Calderon, 19; and Jacobo Giron, 26. 

The office released surveillance images of the other unidentified suspects and urged anyone with information about them to contact Sheriff's Office detectives at ORT@shf.sccgov.org.