Men suspected of stealing jeans - a lot of jeans

YouNews™Story Created: Mar 12, 2009 at 11:15 AM MDT
Story Updated: Mar 12, 2009 at 11:36 AM MDT
By KBCI Web Staff

BOISE - Authorities say they've busted a three-man professional shoplifting ring in Boise.

Boise Police were contacted Wednesday morning by a manager of a local chain store with multiple locations around Boise.

Store employees told authorities they had reason to believe a group of men had been in several of their stores over the last three or four days acting suspiciously, possibly stealing merchandise.

The store employees said the same group of men were spotted at a store location Tuesday night on Milwaukee Avenue.

Authorities set up surveillance at the Milwaukee Avenue store Wednesday morning. A short time later, the same group of men returned to the store. The suspects were then seen by officers leaving the store without paying for a backpack and suitcase.

Officers took the suspects into custody outside the store.

After the arrests, inside the backpack and suitcase, officers found several dozen pair of jeans, high-end purses, and ball caps, also stolen from the store. The recovered stolen merchandise is valued at more than $2,500.

"These suspects look to be professional, and we believe they were headed back to Mexico, where intelligence tells us stolen merchandise from the U.S. is sold on the black market," said Curt Crum, supervisor of the Boise Police Organized Retail Crime Unit.

Police arrested: Seferino Gomez Morela, 22, Juan Bravo Ochoa, 29, and Jose Hernandez-Sanchez, 22. The three suspects are from Mexico and have been charged with burglary and grand theft.

Authorities contacted federal agents with Immigration Customs Enforcement to investigate the suspect's immigration status, as none of the suspects had any valid U.S. identification.

http://www.2news.tv/news/local/41156052.html