Suspected 30 Deep gang members arrested in blue jean, TV thefts

Atlanta police recovered stolen flat-screen televisions as well as blue jeans taken in a recent boutique burglary during the Thursday night arrest of several alleged members of a violent street gang.

Two adults and three juveniles, ranging in age from 14 to 25, were arrested, and police said four of the suspects are known members of the “30 Deep” gang that was recently connected to the Jan. 7 killing of Grant Park bartender John Henderson.

John Spink / jspink@ajc.com

Police said they seized 10 pairs of designer blue jeans and three flat-screen TVs, as well as four firearms, ammunition and bolt cutters.

• See more photos of the goods seized in the raid

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However, police said Friday that they had not been able to connect any of those arrested Thursday night to Henderson’s slaying.

Last week, police charged suspected 30 Deep member Jonathan Redding, 17, with felony murder in Henderson’s death.

An undercover narcotics investigation initially led police to the home on Hartford Avenue in southwest Atlanta where the arrests were made Thursday night, police Major Debra Williams said.

When police served a search warrant, they found 10 grams of suspected powder cocaine.

They also seized 10 pair of designer blue jeans and three flat-screen TVs, as well as four firearms, ammunition and bolt cutters.

The blue jeans still carried tags - with prices up to $341 a pair - from eModa, a Midtown clothing boutique that was hit by “smash-and-grab” burglars twice in the past week.

Two designer t-shirts were also confiscated Thursday night, along with a purse with an eModa price tag of $658.

According to police, several of the suspects caught on the store’s surveillance video had gang tattoos.

Investigators believe the southwest Atlanta house raided Thursday night was being used as a location to fence the stolen goods.

“The main problem we’ve had is finding where this merchandise is going to, said Deputy Chief C.A. Banda. “This is a significant step in stopping some of the jeans being sold on the street and in other locations.”

“When they get [the stolen merchandise], they get rid of it really quick,” said Sgt. R.T. Ezell, head of the Atlanta police Zone 5 Criminal Investigations Division. “We recovered a small amount of the merchandise that was stolen, but the larger quantity of the merchandise has yet to be recovered, if it hasn’t already been sold.”

Dan Kogan, owner of eModa, said he lost an estimated $50,000 in high-end blue jeans and designer t-shirts to burglars that smashed through his rear door last Friday, and another $20,000 to $30,000 in an almost identical heist Thursday morning.

“We feel strongly that it was the same group of people that did both burglaries,” Ezell said.

He said the blue jeans normally sell on the street for a minimum of $50 a pair.