Houston Police Arrest 7 Tied To Major Burglary Ring

HOUSTON, TX — Houston Police have arrested seven suspects with ties to a burglary ring that targeted homes in River Oaks, as well as homes in Brazoria, Galveston and Fort Bend counties, investigators said.

HPD Detective J.P. Murrillo said the thieves used a number of tactics to choose their targeted homes, including social media to determine when they were on vacation or when they were having parties.

Murrillo said the burglars would stake out the homes for several days to determine the schedules of those targeted homes or just simply driving around to see who was away from home for an extended length of time.

The burglars were after certain items, such as art work, guns, jewelry, and computers. The items were either sold, or stored to be sold later on, police said.

"We've made several arrest over the last few months," Murrillo said. "This is a network of suspects. Some of the suspects are involved in the burglaries themselves, other people in this crew are involved in storing stolen property and others are involved in selling the stolen property."

Police arrested:

• Nicholas Lawrence Johnson: 1 county of burglary of a habitation and 1 count of felony theft
• Nicholas Brown: 2 counts of burglary of a habitation and 2 counts of felony theft
• Andre Miles: 1 county of burglary of a habitation and 1 count of felony theft
• Julian Franklin: 1 county of burglary of a habitation and 1 count of felony theft
• Archie Thompkins: 1 count of felony theft
• Gashara Bradshaw: 1 county of burglary of a habitation
• Jasmine Maynes: possession of a controlled substance, and using a fraudulent ID.

Murrillo said HPD's Major Offenders Division has recovered stolen property that included works of art and computers, but need help to locate other items stolen during these burglaries.

"We believe the art work is going to be very hard to sell, and assume that someone may still have the art work in their possession," he said.

Murrillo said the stolen art could be hidden in a friend or family member's home who may not realize the property is stolen. Some of the stolen art pieces are valued at hundreds of thousands of dollars, Murrillo added.

A reward of up to $50,000 is being offered for information that leads to an arrest and the recovery of the stolen property in this case. Anyone with information on this case is asked to call HPD's Major Offenders Division at 713-308-3100.