Police arrested four suspects Monday in connection with several robberies across five states, including two burglaries in the Norman area, an official said.
Norman police Lt. Glenn Dobry said the Norman Police Department is part of the multi-jurisdictional investigation. He also said extradition of the suspects from Texas to Oklahoma is still uncertain.
Norman police Detective Stephen Lucas, one of the officers investigating the case, said charges have been filed against Jeremiah Johnson, 22, of the Houston area. Charges are expected to be presented to the Cleveland County district attorney's office today against Jimmy Rochester, 28, Johnny Brocato, 33, and Raymond Van Dorn, 36, all from the Houston area.
Lucas said police believe that the four men committed several burglaries in Oklahoma, Louisiana, Texas, Kansas and Mississippi.
Lucas said all four are believed to be members of the Aryan Circle, a white-supremacist gang usually found in prisons, but also said only two of the four men have served prison time.
Lucas also said that investigators think there might be more people involved in the burglary ring, and the case is still being thoroughly investigated by state and federal officials.
According to a Norman police press release, the suspects were wanted in connection with an August burglary of a convenience store in which a Bank of Oklahoma ATM and a business safe were stolen. They were also wanted in connection with a September burglary of a convenience store in which a cash drawer and business safe were taken. Police estimated the total loss to both stores to be more than $50,000.
However, in August, Grand Prairie, Texas, police arrested Johnson and found $8,320 in sequentially numbered $20 bills which were tracked back to the Bank of Oklahoma. Authorities also found the abandoned ATM near the Oklahoma/Texas border and eventually connected Johnson, Borcato, Rochester and Van Dorn to the burglaries.
Lucas said credit card machines as well as machines to make fake identification, driver's licenses and payroll checks, a 9-mm handgun and professional burglary tools were found at the suspects' homes after a warrant was served in Houston.
According to the press release, evidence from several Texas burglaries and several items linking the suspects to the Norman burglaries were found in the suspects' houses and storage facilities.
Lucas said the case could not have been broken without cooperation between the several departments who worked the case. The FBI, Norman police, Grand Prairie police, Houston police, the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Johnson County Sheriff's office as well as others all aided in breaking the case.
"We've collected a lot of information, and we're trying to pass it on to those who need it, but there comes a time when you run out of jurisdiction," Lucas said. "When the suspects were breaking in ATMs and that kind of stuff, sometimes the word spreads. There was some really good detective work."
Lucas also said breaking the case was a moral booster for the Norman police, even for those not involved in the case.
"We felt great about it," Lucas said. "The four of us went down there and everybody up here, even the ones who didn't get to go, were happy that we got the bad guys. Some real bad guys."
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