FAST FACTS
- Approx. $100,000 in lawn equipment stolen from a Bartlett business Monday night.
- Police recover some of the goods at a home in Whitehaven.
- One of the suspects was arrested, and another is still on the run.
keli.rabon@wreg.com
(Memphis 8/12/09) Police may have stumbled across a major theft ring at a Whitehaven home, thanks to a tip that the people inside were responsible for a crime in another Mid-South city.
"It's a tough hit. A very tough hit," Kelley Lester of Bartlett Small Engines said.
Lester was shocked to find nearly $100,000 in lawn equipment stolen Tuesday morning, after thieves hit the shop late Monday night. The only clues were captured on cameras that the crooks tried to dismantle.
"You would assume they had been here before they moved the cameras. It was someone who acted like they were very comfortable with what was going on," Lester said.
Police say the thieves setup their own surveillance system at the Whitehaven home to keep a lookout, while they sold some of the stolen equipment out of the backyard.
But the cameras didn't help one of the customers, who was caught red-handed leaving the home while hauling a zero-turn mower on a trailer, still bearing a Bartlett Small Engine tag.
We went to the house and no one was there, but in the backyard, we could see the shed where police say they found two more mowers and two Toyo generators.
Bartlett Police are still looking for the rest of what was taken here and the other suspect they believe is responsible.
Investigators also discovered more than a dozen pit bulls in the backyard. Memphis Police are investigating that part of the case.
keli.rabon@wreg.com
(Memphis 8/12/09) Police may have stumbled across a major theft ring at a Whitehaven home, thanks to a tip that the people inside were responsible for a crime in another Mid-South city.
"It's a tough hit. A very tough hit," Kelley Lester of Bartlett Small Engines said.
Lester was shocked to find nearly $100,000 in lawn equipment stolen Tuesday morning, after thieves hit the shop late Monday night. The only clues were captured on cameras that the crooks tried to dismantle.
"You would assume they had been here before they moved the cameras. It was someone who acted like they were very comfortable with what was going on," Lester said.
Police say the thieves setup their own surveillance system at the Whitehaven home to keep a lookout, while they sold some of the stolen equipment out of the backyard.
But the cameras didn't help one of the customers, who was caught red-handed leaving the home while hauling a zero-turn mower on a trailer, still bearing a Bartlett Small Engine tag.
We went to the house and no one was there, but in the backyard, we could see the shed where police say they found two more mowers and two Toyo generators.
Bartlett Police are still looking for the rest of what was taken here and the other suspect they believe is responsible.
Investigators also discovered more than a dozen pit bulls in the backyard. Memphis Police are investigating that part of the case.
