Grapevine police say they’ve busted a ring of thieves who stole $10 million worth of tech products from warehouses across the Metroplex.
Seven suspects are now charged in the ring, which investigators said is part of a larger crime trend targeting warehouses near DFW International Airport.
In surveillance video from a warehouse in Grapevine in May, a masked man could be seen cutting a hole in a bay door, then loading $500,000 worth of Oculus virtual reality headsets and Meta smart glasses into a stolen truck.
“The employees came back to their warehouse, found that there was a hole in one of their garage doors leading into the warehouse,” said Sgt. Oscar Ramirez, with the Grapevine police. “And, of course, lots of property that had been taken, pallets of property that was gone.”
Get top local stories in DFW delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC DFW's News Headlines newsletter.
Grapevine police took a report from the warehouse, and their crime analyst put together the surveillance video and information about the scene to see if other police departments had reports of similar thefts.
“That was put out, and we immediately got a response,” said Ramirez.
Police said that from August 2023 to June 2024, thieves pulled off seven heists across Dallas and Tarrant counties, stealing around $10 million of tech products.
Local
The latest news from around North Texas.
“So this was very special in that we got to make people accountable for those crimes that they did,” said Ramirez.
That accountability happened on Aug. 14.
Grapevine police were staking out an electronics warehouse, and drone footage from the department showed what happened next. The video showed the suspects arriving, stealing a truck, backing it up to the warehouse, and starting to cut a hole in the bay door. Moments later, officers arrived with lights and sirens on.
Investigators said they made one arrest that night, leading them to seven suspects, who are now charged with felony organized criminal activity.
Police said that as the Metroplex grew, warehouse robberies in areas near DFW Airport became more common.
“But obviously, this was very significant, and what was special about it is that we were able to solve it and tie so many together to this specific group,” said Ramirez.
This is the third regional or inter-state crime ring to be broken up in North Texas since late September. Two months ago, police busted a multi-state theft ring operating out of a home in Little Elm, and last week, NBC 5 reported on a national ring stealing millions in cars from DFW Airport.
