JENSEN BEACH, Fla. (WSVN) – After a months-long manhunt, authorities arrested four men in connection with multiple mall heists resulting in hundreds of pairs of stolen high-end shoes worth almost $1 million dollars.
Investigators said the burglars spent hours in Jensen Beach cutting through a concrete roof before dropping into a store and stealing hundreds of pairs of high-end sneakers.
Martin County Sheriff John Budensiek said the crafty crooks made mistakes along the way.
“They’re intelligent enough to pull off burglaries, but they did some really stupid things. One of those mistakes was at a Wawa,” he said. “The largest favor they did us though was, after spending the entire night and they were exhausted, they stopped by Wawa and bought some Red Bull energy drinks.”
Detectives said they were able to identify the group on surveillance cameras and track them across the state, watching as they rented more tools to carry out another burglary.
That happened last month at a mall near Daytona Beach.
“They were good at what they did, but Detective Perlman back here is better at what he does,” Sheriff Budensiek said.
Bodycam video captured the moment detectives moved in. Investigators said the four men accused of the break-ins are all from Tampa and are linked to at least 10 mall break-ins across Florida, Georgia and even Mississippi.
Budensiek pulled out a pair of sandals given out in jail at a Thursday press conference.
“These individuals are going to be trading in their nice Air Jordans for these kicks,” he said.
Investigators said they still haven’t recovered any of those stolen shoes, and they believe that more people were involved.
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