From left are Chamber Executive Director Sheri Merrick, Sacramento County District Attorney Thien Ho and Chamber Chair Amanda Camacho at the Feb. 17 ACCESS Citrus Heights Luncheon featuring Ho as the guest speaker. Photo by Ornella Rossi

CITRUS HEIGHTS, CA (MPG) - The Citrus Heights Chamber of Commerce welcomed Sacramento County District Attorney Thien Ho for a wide-ranging discussion on public safety, retail theft and the fentanyl crisis during its February ACCESS monthly luncheon.

Held Feb. 17 from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Citrus Heights Event Center, the event drew local business owners and community members seeking an update on the direction of the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office. The luncheon was sponsored by Sunrise Marketplace, and food was provided by Caravan Uzbek Cuisine.

Ho opened his remarks with an African proverb: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together” emphasizing partnership, particularly with local law enforcement.

“When we talk about partnership, I want to recognize the Citrus Heights Police Chief for the great work he and the rest of his team do,” Ho said.

As he travels across the county, Ho said, one concern consistently rises to the top.

“The number one issue is public safety. You really can’t thrive as a community, thrive as a business, unless you first take care of public safety,” he said.

Ho cited a 252% increase in Sacramento County’s homeless population between 2017 and 2022, stating that 8 in 10 chronically homeless individuals suffer from mental health or substance abuse disorders, referencing research from Stanford University.

Citrus Heights Chamber of Commerce ambassadors and staff smile alongside new chamber member Gateway Nails & Spa. Photo by Ornella Rossi

“It’s not safe, it’s not humane,” Ho said of encampment conditions, noting that overdose is the leading cause of death among the unhoused, followed by blunt force trauma. “We see the impact not only with the people living on the streets, but in the community as well.”

To address repeat offenders and quality-of-life crimes, Ho highlighted the county’s CORE program.

“We identify individuals who are consistently committing crimes, vandalism, petty theft, trespassing and we stack up their offenses,” Ho said.

Those individuals are offered a choice: jail time or treatment.

“If they complete that treatment, we greatly reduce the amount of time they’re doing in jail. We allow people an opportunity to get redemption,” Ho said.

Ho also detailed the role of community prosecutors embedded within local police departments. Of the office’s approximately 200 attorneys, about a dozen serve in community-based roles focused on quality-of-life crimes.

Last year, the office filed roughly 15,000 criminal cases, 7,000 felonies and 8,000 misdemeanors, he said.

“These are the things that are going to make a difference and have made a difference,” Ho said, noting a pilot community prosecution program in Citrus Heights.

A significant portion of Ho’s presentation focused on Proposition 36, which he described as a “game changer” for accountability.

He argued that earlier reforms increased the felony theft threshold and reduced certain drug offenses to misdemeanors, weakening deterrence and undermining drug court programs.

“In the aftermath, you had people pulling out a calculator to figure out how much they were stealing,” Ho said.

Proposition 36, which he said passed with 70% voter approval, restores the ability to charge certain repeat petty theft and drug possession offenses as felonies. Sacramento County has filed the fifth-most petty theft charges under the measure in the state, Ho said.

For businesses, his advice was direct.

“If you don’t report it, it didn’t happen,” Ho said. “If you don’t report it, it doesn’t show up in the statistics.”

He urged business owners to follow up on online police reports and to identify their “top 10 offenders.” The District Attorney’s Office also distributed 5,000 Proposition 36 theft-warning stickers to local businesses last year, he said.

Ho also described fentanyl as a crisis eclipsing even gun violence in recent years.

“If I had a packet of sugar worth of fentanyl in my hand right now that’s enough to kill 500 people,” he said.

Sacramento County District Attorney Thien Ho, left, offered a signed copy of this memoir “The People vs. the Golden State Killer,” as a raffle prize won by Quality First Home Improvement Inc. V.P of Operations Scott Gabaree. Photo by Ornella Rossi

Three years ago, Sacramento County recorded more than 450 fentanyl-related deaths in a single year, more than the total number of gun-related homicides in the county over the previous decade, he said. That figure dropped to fewer than 200 last year.

Ho credited aggressive prosecution and education efforts, including his “One Pill Can Kill” program, which brings fentanyl awareness presentations to high schools and middle schools.

“If you sell fentanyl and somebody dies, you just committed murder,” he said, noting that 14 individuals have been charged in fentanyl-related homicide cases since 2022.

He warned that 99% of counterfeit pills sold on the street contain fentanyl, often purchased by teens through social media.

“They’re killing our kids, our grandkids, our nephews and our nieces,” Ho said.

Ho also reflected on leading the prosecution of the man known as the Golden State Killer, who was arrested in Citrus Heights in 2018. The suspect was linked to 13 murders, more than 60 sexual assaults and over 100 burglaries across California between 1974 and 1986.

The arrest relied on genetic genealogy, a technique that compared crime-scene DNA to publicly available genealogy databases.

“We built this massive family tree that had thousands of names on it,” Ho said. Investigators eventually narrowed the list to three potential suspects, including one living in Citrus Heights.

Detectives collected discarded DNA from the suspect’s trash, which matched evidence from crime scenes.

Ho detailed the case in his 2025 memoir, “The People vs. the Golden State Killer,” and offered a signed copy as a raffle prize at the luncheon.

The chamber’s next ACCESS luncheon is scheduled for March 17 at the Citrus Heights Event Center and will feature Sacramento County District 4 Supervisor Rosario Rodriguez.