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North Las Vegas Police Bust Family Burglary Ring
By Aaron Drawhorn, Reporter
By Chris Benka, Photojournalist
September 30, 2011
NORTH LAS VEGAS, Nev. – Forty-four-year-old Gwendolen Jackson and her husband 46-year-old Karl Cage are accused of hocking stolen goods at local pawn shops. Investigators say 18-year-old suspects Xavier Quarles, Ricky Burns, and Clarence Rose -- along with a juvenile -- first did the dirty work, stealing the items from unlocked cars.
"They were just going down the street and checking doors. If the car was locked, they kept going. If the car was unlocked, they went in and took whatever they could," North Las Vegas Police Sgt. Tim Bedwell.
Bedwell says one of the accused young men is Jackson's son. Authorities say the thieves targeted the area of N. 5th Street and Ann Road, stealing items worth thousands of dollars.
"Generally, it was GPS, iPods, tools, and that kind of thing," Bedwell said. "In one case, they actually got into a federal police officer's car and took a Taser and some other police equipment."
The thieves didn't pawn anything at the Gold and Silver Pawn Shop – a hot tourist attraction and home of the History Channel's reality show "Pawn Stars". Gold and Silver Pawn Shop compliance officer Andy Spyer says the store has safeguards in place to catch stolen items.
"Every transaction that takes place in the pawn shop every 24 hours is reported to local police. It's also reported to an online system so that police departments around the country can check to see what is changing hands in a pawn shop," he said.
"Three thousand to 5,000 people a day walk through our doors," Spyer added. "So, I'm more than happy that less than .5 of one percent of anything brought in here is ever subject to investigation."
Meantime, the investigation is far from over into this theft ring in which adults and teens are accused of causing trouble together.
"It's really sad when you have a situation like this where you have adults and potentially parents who are fostering crime with their children," Bedwell said.
Police, so far, have arrested six people. They are still looking for one more person and some of the victims who had items stolen.
Police say this is a reminder to always lock your car doors.
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