Burglary ring operating in Memorial Villages using high end vehicles

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Law enforcement officials are trying to crack a string or burglaries in neighbors surrounding the upscale Memorial Villages. Some of the burglaries and attempted break-ins have raised eyebrows because the suspects drive high end vehicles.

Just Thursday, people driving a BMW 7 series vehicle were seen trying to break into a home. The attempt was captured on nearby surveillance video, and in iPhone photos.

Villages Police Chief J.D. Sanders put it this way: "A brand new BMW would have less a chance of sticking out than a 1974 Chrysler, you know?"

Sanders says he believes at least two rings are working the area. One group drives more average looking cars, but the other group has definitely used more expensive vehicles to blend into the landscape of million-dollar homes.

"Bad guys like dark tinted windows anyway, because they don't like to be seen, they don't want anyone to identify them," said Chief Sanders.

"It's kind of creepy, if you see a nice car, you don't look, and you don't think differently," said Cindy Martin, who just moved into a home that was recently burglarized. Martin says burglars took all the appliances inside her home before she and her family moved in.

A few blocks away, Lexi Caldwell's family home was also hit. "They came into my mom's bedroom, and they smashed the window." This specific burglary's suspects did not drive a luxury vehicle.

Right now, Villages Police Department, Precinct 4, Precinct 5, and the Houston Police Department are all working together to break this string of robberies. Authorities say besides occasional use of luxury vehicles, all the burglaries have also occurred within the hours of 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., when people were unlikely to be home.

The suspects are also often using a woman or several women as spotters. Police say it's often the women who would first knock on the door of a Memorial Villages home, and try to determine if anyone was inside.