HOUSTON – One suspect is in custody, and one remains on the run wanted in a series of aggressive jugging and sliding crimes in the Houston area. Jugging and sliding are methods of targeting unsuspecting citizens, primarily at banks and gas stations.
According to Houston police, two suspects were watching a bank in Midtown on June 2. The suspects were watching customers leaving the bank with the intent to follow them and target them for theft. That practice is called "jugging."
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The suspects followed an elderly man from the bank to a nearby restaurant parking lot, where they burglarized his vehicle and stole his property.
Eyewitnesses were able to give the suspects' descriptions to Houston police officers, who were able to locate one of them and recover the victim’s stolen property.
Lacarlton Johnson was charged with felony theft and was booked into the Harris County Jail. His alleged accomplice, Lavert Hart, has a warrant issued for his arrest for felony theft.
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Police said Hart is suspected in dozens of Houston area bank jugging thefts and “sliding” thefts. Sliding is a crime where suspects pull up to a vehicle while the driver is pumping gas. The suspects slide up next to the victim’s vehicle, open the passenger door and steal their property. Many victims do not realize the theft has occurred until they have already left the location.
Hart is currently on bond for a 2013 aggravated robbery. In that pending case, Hart is accused of stealing a man’s vehicle and when the man attempted to stop him, Hart fired a pistol through the vehicle windshield, striking the man in the chest. Hart fled the location in a stolen vehicle, crashed it and ran away.
While on bond for that aggravated robbery case, police said Hart was also charged with burglary of a motor vehicle, where he is accused of breaking into a vehicle and stealing a wallet and credit cards.
Hart goes by the alias of "Trey Dorsey" and is from the 5th Ward neighborhood of northeast Houston. He has a large tattoo on his neck of "KCP" representing the "Kelly Courts Projects." Hart is believed to currently be living in north Houston near I-45 and W. Mt. Houston.
Anyone with information on Hart's whereabouts is urged to contact Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.