TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Three Tampa men have been arrested after investigators said they carried out a series of elaborate, multi-state heists to steal nearly $1 million in high-end sneakers.
One of the break-ins reported in October made national headlines after the group cut through the Treasure Coast Mall’s concrete roof and dropped into a Champs Sporting Goods store. They then bagged hundreds of pairs of Nike and New Balance shoes, stuffed them into a getaway vehicle and took off.
Oregon man travels thousands of miles to meet, sexually assault Auburndale teen: police
The Martin County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday that Herbert L. Davis III, 25, Michael McCray, 28, and Tyrone Howard, 23, are believed to have been involved in at least a dozen more rooftop burglaries that occurred across Florida and Georgia.
Deputies said they were quickly able to identity the members of the group after they broke into the Treasure Coast Mall in October. Investigators then spent months tracking their movements and gathering evidence as the group attempted additional crimes, according to the sheriff’s office.
Among their other targets was the Volusia Mall in Daytona Beach, where, in mid-November, detectives said the group used a similar tactic and cut a hole through the roof. McCray and Davis were both arrested in Volusia County following the burglary, jail records show. Howard was taken into custody later in Tampa.
“Thanks to the relentless work of our criminal investigations division, especially Detective Ryan Pearlman, their arrests bring an end to what is believed to be a $1-million organized shoe-theft ring,” the sheriff’s office wrote in a social media post announcing the arrests…