The Boone County Sheriff’s Office made arrests on two subjects believed to be responsible for multiple thefts from vehicles in and around the Indianapolis Metropolitan area. The multi-jurisdictional investigation started after agencies began investigating multiple thefts from vehicles at high traffic areas, including restaurants and shopping malls.
A break in the case came in November when a surveillance camera in Boone County provided investigators a clue to a ring of suspects responsible for these thefts. These thieves would pull into parking lots and park between the customer vehicles. They would look into the vehicles and if they could see items they wanted, then they would force entry to the vehicle. This process would take as little as 30 seconds and they would move on to another parking lot.
After developing suspects from the video, investigators were able to place surveillance on them for the last two weeks. During this time, the suspects were witnessed breaking into several vehicles on the Indianapolis north side. On Tuesday, Boone County investigators followed the suspects to the Plainfield area where they observed them enter four different vehicles. Boone County investigators then notified the Hendricks County Sheriff and Plainfield Police to assist in apprehending the suspects.
Two suspects were apprehended following a brief foot pursuit. Both subjects are now incarcerated in the Hendricks County Jail. One suspect arrested was Marco Smith (50) Indianapolis. Authorities are trying to confirm the identity of the second man after he gave false information.
Boone County authorities are working with other surrounding agencies, including the Indianapolis Police Department, to share information about this pair of thieves. Authorities do believe that others were involved in the thefts and more arrests are possible.
Boone County Sheriff Mike Nielsen stated: “Our investigators have put many hours into this on-going investigation and it has finally come to fruition because of their dedicated efforts. We have involved surrounding law enforcement agencies around the Indianapolis area in the last several weeks to assist us in catching these people. Putting these thieves in jail is a prime example of how law enforcement agencies work together when the time comes to work outside your jurisdiction. In law enforcement, our ultimate goal is putting these people behind bars so we can stop them from furthering their criminal activity, it makes no difference who does it as long as it gets done.”
