HAMMOND, La. —
Police believe they have caught members of a group who had been stealing Apple products from Best Buy stores from Texas to Florida.
The Hammond Police Department announced the arrest of four suspects Wednesday.
According to the police department, they received a message from the Mobile Police Department in Alabama Monday, asking them to be on the lookout for five men who had committed a burglary at a Best Buy there and fled west in a red Ford truck and a silver Toyota Camry.
The burglars were also tied to a Best Buy burglary in D'iberville, Mississippi.
Police believe they may have been headed to Texas, where the four suspects arrested for the thefts live.
Shortly after receiving the information, a Hammond police officer was posted near Airport Road on the westbound I-12 to watch traffic. When the officer spotted two cars that matched the descriptions of the suspect vehicles, he followed them and pulled the truck over when it got off the freeway on Southwest Railroad Avenue.
"Sure enough, within an hour, hour and a half, they come on riding through and our guy saw them and we were able to get them in custody," said Chief Edwin Bergeron of the Hammond Police Department.
Another officer pulled over the Camry near the I-55 on-ramp.
Officers executed search warrants on both of the vehicles, turning up 27 Apple Macbooks in the Camry's trunk. The computers, reported stolen from the Mississippi Best Buy, were worth nearly $34,000.
Officers arrested Pierre Jordan,33; Boris Johnson, 33; Payton Stevens, 28; and Jovan Washington, 27. All four are from Houston, Texas.
Bergeron said the men were no strangers to Hammond, having stole $30,000 worth of computers at the Best Buy there.
Police say a fifth suspect fled the scene but did not provide any additional details about the fifth suspect.
Detectives believe the suspects belong to a group out of Houston that has been burglarizing Best Buy stores located along the I-10/12 corridor from Florida to Texas.
In total, police say the group has stolen over $2 million in merchandise.
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