Detectives in Montgomery County are probing whether the same thieves have broken into three mobile phone stores over the past week in the middle of the night.
In the most recent crime, about 2:30 a.m. Wednesday, at least two people broke through two side windows of the T-Mobile store near Ridge Road at Interstate 270 in Germantown, authorities said. Phones and other electronic items were stolen, according to Goodale.
Just 25 hours earlier, someone pried open the back door of a business four miles away: the Sprint store on Quince Orchard Road in Gaithersburg. A number of iPhone models were stolen, said Officer Dan Lane, a Gaithersburg police spokesman.
Lane said investigators “have reason to believe” the break-in is related to the burglary one night later at the T-Mobile in Germantown. Investigators were working Wednesday to obtain any surveillance videos showing the two break-ins.
Last week — about 2:30 a.m. Oct. 16 — several thieves broke through the glass front door of an AT&T store on Columbia Pike in the eastern part of Montgomery County, about 15 miles from the other break-ins.
Surveillance video related to the AT&T burglary showed three people going into the store and then leaving two minutes later with stolen items, Goodale said.
Managers at each of the three stores declined Wednesday to discuss the incidents.
