HOUSTON – Apparently ashamed to show their faces on camera, undercover officers say a trio of suspects wasn't too shy to take advantage of several victims in what investigators are calling a sophisticated robbery and burglary operation.
The Houston Police Department's Northeast Tactical Unit along with the Pasadena Police Department arrested 25-year-old Deric Nash, 20-year-old London Roberts, and 24-year-old Charles White, all of northeast Houston.
Officers apprehended the men several blocks away from their latest victim, in a mall parking lot Monday in Pasadena.
"This is a growing epidemic that has continued to be a thorn in our side so we're doing what we can to stop it," says an undercover officer who declined to be identified.
Investigators tell us they'd been tracking the alleged crooks since before Christmas. They say that's when the trio began their spree of jugging -- a term officers use for suspects who follow unaware customers from a bank to a separate location and steal money the customer has withdrawn.
The thieves either break into the person's vehicle or in more dangerous cases, steal directly from the victim. In the case of this alleged ring, officers say the men used two vehicles to coordinate their robberies.
"From what I understand, this is not their first time," says the undercover officer who spoke to Local 2. "So this is a good catch."
In one of the robberies Nash, Roberts, and White are charged in, investigators say they followed an elderly, disabled man to his home where they burglarized his vehicle in an attempt to steal the money the man had withdrawn from the bank.