Hurst police break up suspected retail theft ring targeting area malls

A sharp-eyed patrol officer helped authorities break up what they described as a large retail theft ring that traveled across the U.S. targeting merchants and stealing large amounts of property.

Alerted by bulletins about a group of people stealing from area malls, patrol officer Ryan Tooker spotted one of the suspects last week at North East Mall.

Tooker told mall security officers, who watched the suspect and later got vehicle information.

After the vehicle left the mall parking lot, 1100 Melbourne Road, patrol officers stopped it on a traffic violation and found stolen merchandise from the mall.

Arrested at the scene were Maria Alvarez, 30; Luis Perera, 21; Osmany Martinez, 26; and Antony Ferreyra, 29, all of Florida. They were free Wednesday after posting bail. Bail information was not available.

The four are expected to be charged with organized retail theft of $2,500 to $30,000, police said Wednesday.

Police recovered $4,489.19 in merchandise from the vehicle. The items were returned to Hollister Co. and Victoria’s Secret.

Before the Thursday arrest, police had been alerted that large-scale thefts were reported at Firewheel Town Center in Garland and Northpark Center in Dallas.

“Officer Tooker had reviewed information from the area retail theft bulletins,” police Sgt. Craig Teague said Wednesday in a news release.

This story was originally published October 14, 2015 at 3:56 PM with the headline "Hurst police break up suspected retail theft ring targeting area malls."