3 arrested and accused of stealing carts from golf club in Houston

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Hours after thieves brazenly smashed through a security fence and stole four golf carts from Wildcat Golf Club, police said the carts were up for sale online for a fraction of their value.

A tip call from someone looking to buy a cart online noticed the gold-colored electric carts were too cheap to be legitimate and that they matched those at the southwest Houston course. Within hours, Harris County Precinct 7 deputy constables contacted the would-be sellers and set up a sting operation.

They arrested three 18-year-old men and recovered three of the four carts. There is high demand for carts according the golf course owner Elmer Stephens.

"People use them on ranches, businesses use them, security companies use them," said Stephens. "There's a big market and they're hard to get."

In the last two weeks, thieves have stolen nine electric vehicles from Wildcat. In all, the property is worth an estimated $60,000. The suspected thieves arrested Wednesday afternoon will be charged with possession of stolen property and burglary of a business.

Investigators hope those suspects lead them to more missing property and potentially more arrests.

"This is pretty fast police work," said Pct. 7 spokesperson Pamela Greenwood. "This is a first for us. A lot of these sites, they might want to do a better job that these things for sale are not stolen."

Report a typo to the ABC13 staff