DFW Auto Theft Ring Suspects Identified
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DESOTO (CBSDFW.COM) - Officials have identified the suspects who were involved in a police shooting Thursday in south Dallas County. This all stemmed from a monster truck that was stolen earlier this week, and led authorities to a much larger crime ring.
The iconic truck for the Shell Shack restaurant in Dallas was reported stolen from a parking lot along the Dallas North Tollway this week. Dallas Hale, the truck's owner, later found the vehicle in DeSoto, parked in the woods away from the street. "There was one tire completely flat," Hale said of the truck. "It was stripped out. There was stuff stolen from it."
Retrieving the monster truck took an unusual amount of effort. "Literally chopped down all the trees around it, hooked up the four-wheel drive to it," Hale explained.
The truck is still being repaired, but the police investigation grew into a bigger case involving an auto theft ring.
Authorities had arrested David Campbell for the monster truck theft. Campbell is the man who led Hale to his truck in exchange for a $5,000 reward. "It's looking more and more like he was involved and trying to get the reward on top of it," Hale said.
But a tip then led police to a second stolen truck. When officers tried to stop a driver in that vehicle, the man started to flee. That suspect has been identified as 27-year-old Paul Lee. Police chased the truck for about eight blocks before the vehicle crashed.
The suspect then jumped into a stolen Ford Mustang. Police identified the driver of that car as 38-year-old Carl Myer. Another passenger was also inside of the car, 30-year-old Amanda Lee. Police said that she is Myer's sister.
Myer attempted to hit an officer in the 10000 block of Beckley View Avenue, but another officer with the DeSoto Police Department fired at least one shot. Myer was struck and is now being treated at the hospital. He has been charged with aggravated assault of a public servant with a deadly weapon.
Paul Lee and Amanda Lee are now behind bars for evading arrest and engaging in organized crime, respectively.
"The fact that it turned out to be this big car theft ring," said Hale, "I was pretty surprised."