Hi-Tech Thieves Caught On Tape

Some hi-tech thieves are on the prowl in Tulsa. They've broken into eight cell phone stores recently, making off with big hauls of high-end cell phones and PDA's. News On 6 crime reporter Lori

Wednesday, May 9th 2007, 9:20 pm

By: News On 6

Some hi-tech thieves are on the prowl in Tulsa. They've broken into eight cell phone stores recently, making off with big hauls of high-end cell phones and PDA's. News On 6 crime reporter Lori Fullbright reports they hit again on Wednesday and this time, made a mistake.

This isn't just one or two guys, it's five men and one woman who break in and grab cell phones and leave. During Wednesdayâ€™s robbery the burglars were caught on tape, and the tape shows their faces pretty well. The thieves are in and out of the stores in about 60 seconds and so far, they've taken 500 cell phones.

The most recent break in happened about 3 a.m. Wednesday. Six suspects come in the back door, which is the basic M.O. in each case.

"Prying open the door with a pry bar of some sort and either not tripping the alarm or dismantling the alarm so we're not aware of it. However, most recently, the alarm went off twice and apparently scared them away," said Tulsa Police Detective Debra Glenn.

Because of that, they didn't get any phones, but that has not been the case recently. This group robbed a U.S. Cellular store on March 28th, then hit three Cricket stores and another U.S. Cellular store in one night, followed by a third U.S. Cellular store days later, then a Sprint store and finally Cingular.

"It's an alarming rate they're hitting, but unfortunately, it's not too surprising because they're making a great haul and that's what burglars do," Glenn said.

They're mostly targeting newer, high-end phones like Motorola KRZAâ€™s, Slivers and Blackberry PDA's. The question is who's buying the stolen items, because only a couple have been activated so far.

"They can use them with the right technology. If people know how to reprogram them with the SIM cards, they can do it,â€ said Detective Glenn. â€œWe don't know if that's the case here or if they're moving them out of state or out of the country. We don't know where the phones are going."

If anyone knows where these phones are ending up, or who is fencing them, or if you recognize any of burglars in the surveillance video, call police. As always, no one will know who you are and you could earn up to a $1,000 cash reward by calling Crimestoppers, 596-COPS.

Watch the video: Gang Of Burglars Targeting Cellular Stores