OAKLAND — Within just one hour, the same group of thieves pulled up in a stolen black Dodge Durango to two different stores here, smashed through the front, and unloaded thousands of dollars in cash, lottery tickets, cigar wraps and other merchandise before making a getaway.

By November, police had identified and arrested just one of the four masked suspects in the September break-ins. But when they raided his Fremont home, they found evidence of more crimes: Dodge key fobs and a simple key reprogrammer kit that is the primary tool of the trade for car thieves across the state, according to court records.

Key reprogrammers can be hooked into plugs behind panels of modern cars — from the expensive and stylish to clunkers — and are used to aid owners who’ve lost their keys. But the technol

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