4 men charged in flat-screen TV theft ring

Four alleged Clayton County gang members are in jail, charged with breaking into dozens of businesses throughout the metro area and stealing more than 200 flat-screen televisions.

Police announced the arrests Wednesday of four members of the gang, who called themselves the “Hit Squad,” after linking them to burglaries that stretched from Atlanta to Kennesaw to Jonesboro to Conyers.

Investigators say the four men spent the past year targeting sports bars, rent-a-centers, self-service laundries, bowling alleys and cellphone stores.

“They hit anything that had a big-screen TV,” Clayton County Police Detective Mitch Kincaid said. “It’s easy to unload these items for $200 to $300 in a parking lot or on the side of the road.”

Police are still searching for at least three other members of the burglary ring.

The gang is responsible for stealing more than 200 televisions, which retail for $2,000-$4,000, Kincaid said.

More than 50 investigators from 17 police agencies joined forces last year after noticing a spike in burglaries and flat-screen TV thefts. In all of the burglaries, police noticed the same car fleeing the scene: a gold Mercedes.

Officers spent months searching for the Mercedes, but the break didn’t come until one of the suspects dropped a Doritos bag out of the car while breaking into a Smyrna business, Smyrna Det. Chris Singleton said.

Detectives identified Devon Sherman Anderson Jr., the owner of the Mercedes and leader of the burglary ring, through his fingerprint left on the Doritos bag, police said.

On Feb. 26, a Clayton County patrol officer stopped Anderson as he fled from a College Park home invasion in his gold Mercedes.

Police later linked Anderson, 22 of Riverdale, to three accomplices: Anthony Antoine Jackson, 22, Malique Jose David, 22, and Bershan Lewis, 23. All of the men live in Riverdale or College Park, police said.

The men have already been charged with burglaries in Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton and Douglas counties. Additional charges are pending.

Officers searched the suspects’ homes and found six flat screen TVs, an AK-47 rifle and $825 in cash covered in dye similar to the dye packs used by banks, Clayton County Police Chief Jeffrey Turner said.

Turner said anyone found in possession of a stolen TV also could be charged. He recommended buyers avoid roadside sales and always keep track of their sets’ serial numbers.