MARTIN COUNTY, Fla. — The Martin County Sheriff's Office announced the arrests of four people in connection with an October rooftop burglary at the Treasure Coast Mall. And investigators say the burglary was part of a multi-state retail theft operation.
Sheriff John Budensiek said Thursday that the suspects, all from Tampa, had carried out similar thefts in other parts of Florida as well as Georgia and Mississippi.
Dubbed Operation Stolen Soles, Budensiek said the men arrested, as well as others who have not yet been arrested, stole sneakers from other locations and led to a loss between $700,000 and $1 million.
Budensiek said the suspects spent seven hours inside the Treasure Coast Mall in late October, when they cut a hole in the rooftop above Champs Sports and lowered themselves into the store.
"They did us a huge favor, and drove a U-Haul truck and a follow car. The follow car was registered to one of our suspect's mothers, out of Tampa," said Budensiek. "So it helped us start honing in on the vehicles."
Region Martin County
MCSO: Thieves cut hole in mall rooftop to steal 'high-dollar' sneakers
He said one of the biggest breakthroughs came when the suspects stopped at a local Wawa after the burglary, which helped investigators start identifying them. They also discovered the suspects had rented tools at a Tampa Home Depot—a circular saw, an extension ladder—used in the burglary.
On Nov. 17, detectives' surveillance led to the arrest of three suspects during an active burglary at the Volusia Mall in Daytona Beach. Michael McCray, Jimmel Raiford and Herbert Davis III were arrested there, and Tyrone Howard was arrested later in Tampa.
McCray, 28, was labeled as the main target, and Budensiek said he was previously arrested for burglarizing a Louis Vuitton store in Palm Beach Gardens in 2018.
"He did a couple of years in prison, got out, went right back to his trade," he said.
The sheriff's office says it expects more arrests to come. All four suspects will be transferred to Martin County.
