(WHAS11) - St. Matthews Police say they have busted what they are calling a crime syndicate.
7 people have been charged with stealing hundreds of cell phones from malls in Louisville, Lexington and southern Indiana.
Authorities say they were brazen crimes that netted the suspects hundreds of thousands of dollars.
All of the suspects are between the ages of 19 and 25, and are all facing charges connected to the string of burglaries.
Police say they were involved in 10 burglaries of cell phone kiosks at local malls, stealing as many as 500 cell phones.
Officers also report they broke into Oxmoor Center, Jefferson Mall, and a mall in Lexington as well as two cell phone stores. There is also surveillance video of the suspects at the Greentree Mall in Clarksville.
“One of the suspects we have apprehended said he has made over $10,000 dollars selling the phones that he’s taken and that’s just one of seven,” says Det. Danny Grant with the St. Matthews Police.
Police say none of the suspects worked for any of the businesses that were burglarized.
St. Matthews Police nabbed some of the suspects when they were alerted by Mall Saint Matthews security about one of the break-ins.
Two more of the suspects were caught in the get-away car.
