In an effort to curb the upsurge in cell phone thefts and other property, undercover Orange County Sheriff’s deputies on Thursday raided three shops and arrested three suspects near the J-Mart shopping center at the northwest corner of Hiawassee and Silver Star roads.
The undercover operation began about a month ago, after information was received that the owner of Minh Electronics was buying stolen cell phones, Lt. Carlos Torres of the Property Unit of the Orange County Sheriff’s Office said.
“Today, the owner of Minh Electronics agreed to buy cell phones from our undercover deputies at a price and this culminates our investigation,” he said.
The two other stores targeted dealt in stolen jewelry and other property.
Torres said, today’s raid is a start but there is still a lot of work to be done in turning the tide on robberies, including cell phone thefts, for which there is a high demand.
“There is a huge loss to businesses resulting from the purchase of stolen goods, including cell phones, and this drives up the cost to consumers,” he added. “We want to send a message to those individuals who are buying stolen property and that is, we are coming after you.”
Orange County has had 205 robberies of cell phones and other items during the first six months of 2013, compared to 162 over the same period in 2012, the Sheriff’s Office said.
