Monday, May 26, 1997
Four counties wide and 12 suspects deep
By TANYA EISERER
Staff Writer
Detectives say they have cracked a burglary ring reaching into
four counties and involving at least a dozen suspects.
The burglary cases have consumed the energies of detectives
from three law enforcement agencies for months.
From October to January, it seemed there wasn't a construction
site, storage unit, shed or barn in Jones, Taylor, Callahan or
Haskell counties that was safe, said Abilene police Det. Terrell
Perkins.
"It just goes on and on," said Abilene Police Chief
Melvin Martin.
Perkins has tied 15 criminal cases totaling $33,000 in stolen
property, $18,000 of which has been recovered, to the suspects.
The detective presented his cases to Taylor County District Attorney
James Eidson for review about two weeks ago, but no charges have
been filed as of yet.
"There's so much to these cases that it will take a while
to sort it all out," Perkins explained.
Taylor County Sheriff's Office Det. Veda Monroe has five cases
involving at least 10 victims with about $14,000 in stolen property,
$11,116 of which has been recovered.
The West Central Texas Auto Theft Task Force also has several
cases involving the burglary ring, Perkins said.
To date, several of the suspects have been arrested for possession
of stolen property but not for burglary, he said.
Monroe said that up to a dozen suspects, most in their early
to mid-20s, were involved to varying degrees in the organized
criminal activity.
"We're still recovering property, and we're still discovering
new suspects," Perkins added.
The ring apparently didn't really have a leader, but it did
have a several "organizers," he said.
"It was kind of a partnership," he explained. "It
was a business. There were a lot of family members involved. Each
person's involvement varied. Some were actual partners. Some were
people who kind of looked the other way. Some were even victims
who were used to store property."
Burglary rings or individuals committing more than one burglary
are not unusual, Monroe said.
"But lots of times they're not tied together," she
said. "Lots of times someone will be caught on one thing,
and not be tied to the others."
Perkins said the saga started in November of 1996 with a string
of burglaries at construction sites.
"During the construction burglaries in November, they
were hitting us pretty hard," he said. "They'd steal
$4,000 to $5,000 worth of tools and equipment in one burglary.
"The word was out among the contractors that someone was
hitting them. I had more than one contractor tell me that they
had got hit so hard that they considered getting out of the business.
They were kind of creating their own little crime wave."
At the same time, Monroe was also investigating several burglaries
at construction sites. After talking with Perkins, she realized
they might be connected.
In January, the ring apparently started hitting storage units
in Taylor and the outlying counties.
"I saw a lot of similarities in the things taken from
the construction sites," Monroe explained.
In each of the cases, the burglars were stealing heavy items
ranging from four-wheelers to tools to household furnishings,
she said.
"The storage units were the worst hit," Perkins said.
"People had a lot of items stolen that they couldn't replace.
They'd back up to the storage unit and they'd just load up."
Meanwhile, the West Central Texas Auto Theft Task Force was
also investigating a series of burglaries in Jones, Haskell and
Callahan counties.
Agents Larry Moore and J.D. West had arrested two suspects
for possession of stolen property, Perkins said.
"Then we realized we were looking for the same people,"
he said. "We had no idea of the magnitude, but the more we
investigated the more evidence we found and the more property
we recovered."
The four detectives eventually realized that the ring was targeting
places where they were unlikely to encounter people at night,
Monroe said.
With the assistance of Monroe, Perkins ran his first of two
search warrants in early February. They also did consenual searches
at various places.
For about a month, all the two detectives did was work cases
and recover stolen property.
One suspect had practically furnished his home with property
stolen from storage units, Perkins said.
"Everything they wanted, they stole," said Perkins,
adding that none of the suspects have showed any remorse for their
alleged actions.
Stolen property was warehoused in a variety of places ranging
from homes to storage units to sheds, Perkins said.
"It's a lot of property," he said. "It's more
property than they could have used. They kept some of it and they
sold some of it. Most of the property has been recovered in Taylor
County at numerous locations."
When they started running search warrants, the burglary activity
also seemed to come to "a screeching halt," Perkins
said.
Perkins and Monroe were also finding property on burglaries
that people hadn't even reported to the police.
"One man knew he'd been burgled, but he didn't know what
was missing," he said. "It's hard for us to recover
it if they don't report it."
The detectives were also helped by owners who had placed markings,
such as their driver's license or Social Security number, on their
property.
Perkins said he had to obtain special approval to return much
of the stolen property back to the owners.
"We didn't have room to store it," he said. "We
would have had to rent a warehouse."
Both Perkins and Monroe attribute their success in cracking
the burglary ring to cooperation between the various agencies.
"Nobody was looking for the glory," Monroe said.
"They just wanted to recover the property and get it back
to the owners."
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Abilene Reporter-News / Texnews / E.W. Scripps Publications
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