Raytown, Missouri police want the public to be on the lookout for people selling phones on the street or on social media that appear to be brand-new. Those devices may be stolen.
Surveillance video shows three suspects ransacking two Sprint stores early Sunday morning, one in Raytown off 350 Highway and the other in Kansas City off Sterling Avenue. They broke into the stores' front windows, smashed cabinets, and got away with more than 100 iPads, iPhone 7s, and Android phones.
Two days later, the same suspects targeted the same two stores. Police say the second round of burglaries happened around midnight on Tuesday.
The Raytown store managers saw the second burglary happen in real-time via a camera feed. By the time police got there, the suspects were gone.
Sprint deactivated all the stolen devices. The loss is estimated at more than $80,000.
Police are advising anyone looking to buy a phone from someone else or off social media to first go with the seller to a Sprint store so that an employee can run the serial number. An employee will be able to tell if the phone can be activated.
Police say the suspects are three young, black males. One appears to have been wearing a tie-dyed shirt, and another was wearing a blue sweatshirt with a red hat.
Call police or the TIPS Hotline with any information at 816-474-TIPS (8477).
