BAYTOWN, Texas – More than a dozen people are suspected to be behind more than two dozen Radio Shack robberies in the Houston area.
Fourteen of the suspects have been identified and many of them have been arrested.
One of the big breaks in the case came after one of the suspects was shot in Louisiana and ended up in Baytown.
On Jan. 24, a Radio Shack in Lake Charles, La., was robbed at gunpoint. The thieves then went to another store in Sulphur, La., and burglarized it, officials said.
Sulphur police were able to catch two suspects, 21-year-old Jason Barnes and 21-year-old James Cooper. A third suspect got away, but he was shot by a police officer, investigators said.
That suspect, 24-year-old Christian Earvin, was found a few hours later at San Jacinto Hospital in Baytown. He had a gunshot wound to his left leg and police wanted to know when he got it.
"He basically gave a false story as to how he was shot and who had shot him," Detective Edgar Elizondo said.
Officers began watching the hospital and arrested two people who came to visit him, Stacey Parker and Darianna Bridges. Police said they were also involved in the robberies and Louisiana and were the ones who took him to the hospital.
Investigators said those arrests led them to three more suspects – Elvis Lusk, Jarvis Hodge, Michael Holmes and Diego Chapman.
Detectives said all the suspects are members of a robbery ring that targeted at least 28 Radio Shack stores in the Houston area over the past two years.
Houston police said they've arrested other people believed to be in the ring. Those arrests were made after an off-duty officer shot one of them during an attempted robbery at a store on Interstate 10 near Gessner about three weeks ago.
Houston police declined to say how many people have been arrested, because the investigation remains open.
Nine people have been charged in the crimes in Louisiana.
Jason Barnes