Arrest of suspect in Texas home burglaries reveals potential links to cases nationwide
NORTH TEXAS - In Dallas, Shippy Barr's fine jewelry disappeared.
"You have this feeling of helplessness, of… I couldn't sleep at all that night," Barr said.
In Houston, Keli Rabon was hit while her young sons were home with her.
"They made off with so much stuff… I'm beyond devastated," she said.
Victims across Texas pieced together how the same two men posed as tree trimmers, one distracting them while the other broke into their homes.
The break in the case, though, came last week, more than a thousand miles away in a Pittsburg, Pennsylvania suburb.
"Right around 3:30 in the morning our officers are dispatched to Hammill Manufacturing," said Penn Township Police Chief John Otto.
Otto says an officer responding to a burglar alarm found three men in a pickup with stolen goods. The small department says it happened at the same time it received a suspicious 911 call about an armed robbery across town.
"But the phone call was being made from the parking lot of Hamill Manufacturing," said Otto. "Knowing they set off the alarm, they called 911 as a ruse to send resources to the armed robbery."
Since the arrests, the department says it's gotten calls from police across the country interested primarily in 27-year-old Bobby Lucci.
"Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Florida, Houston, Texas, Dallas, Texas. We received phone calls from the FBI, NCIS, and potentially Kansas. This was an extensive crime ring," said Otto.
Penn Township officers have executed search warrants for its theft investigation and on behalf of other police agencies that have contacted it.
In the suspects' pickup, Chief Otto says the department recovered jewelry, two-way radios, fluorescent vests, hard hats, and gloves.
"Things that at least appear to be used in your cases in Texas," he said.
Surveillance video of the men who broke into Texas homes shows one, who looks similar to Lucci, wearing gloves and carrying what appears to be a radio, which victims recall the men used to communicate with each other in a foreign language.
Dallas police Wednesday confirmed they've charged Lucci in connection to the Barr family's home burglary. Houston police are looking into possible charges, too, in Rabon's case.
"It was very gratifying to see his name, see his face, and see that he was arrested," said Rabon.
For her, it is a small relief.
But after seeing a history of similar charges against Lucci, she's hoping this time they'll stick.
"They've been involved in cases from coast to coast, so to me it's clear there's a need for federal involvement," she said.
Not yet in custody is the second man police say was caught on camera committing the home burglaries in Dallas alongside Lucci. He was not among those arrested in Pennsylvania.