{"id":53479,"date":"2020-06-08T14:16:35","date_gmt":"2020-06-08T20:16:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/couple-suspected-in-durango-cortez-thefts-tied-to-crime-spree-across-u-s\/"},"modified":"2020-06-08T20:16:35","modified_gmt":"2020-06-08T20:16:35","slug":"couple-suspected-in-durango-cortez-thefts-tied-to-crime-spree-across-u-s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/couple-suspected-in-durango-cortez-thefts-tied-to-crime-spree-across-u-s\/","title":{"rendered":"Couple suspected in Durango, Cortez thefts tied to crime spree across U.S."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"This
This video surveillance image shows a couple suspected of stealing wallets from people then using stolen credit cards to make purchases at nearby big-box stores, such as Walmart and Target. The couple is suspected of committing the crimes in towns across the country including Durango and Cortez.<\/span>Courtesy of the Durango Police Department<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

An unidentified man and woman suspected of committing theft and fraud in Durango and Cortez appear to have gone on a crime spree across the country.<\/p>\n

In early May, the Durango Police Department asked for the public\u2019s help to identify a couple who allegedly stole a wallet <\/a>from a woman\u2019s purse on April 26 at Albertsons, then immediately went to Walmart and used a stolen credit card to buy $2,500 in merchandise and gift cards.<\/p>\n

The next day, the man and the woman are suspected of stealing a wallet from someone in Cortez and again went to Walmart to buy items for more than $2,300.<\/p>\n

Surveillance video of the suspected fraudulent transaction in Cortez showed a 40- to 50-year-old man and a 40- to 50-year-old woman purchasing 21 gift cards and other items.<\/p>\n

In recent weeks, authorities have pieced together a timeline that shows the couple is committing similar crimes across the country, including in Nevada, Kansas, Wisconsin, South Dakota and Iowa.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur detectives have been in touch with several agencies back east that have been dealing with a male and female suspect who are committing the same types of crimes that were committed here,\u201d said Durango Police Cmdr. Jacob Dunlop.<\/p>\n

According to a report last week in the Hays Post<\/a>, which covers the small town of Hays in central Kansas, the same couple allegedly stole someone\u2019s wallet at a local grocery store and then used a stolen credit card to spend more than $2,300 at Walmart.<\/p>\n

A few days later, the couple committed the same crime, stealing a person\u2019s wallet in Wichita, Kansas, and using the credit card at a Target, the Hays Post reported. Authorities then connected the crimes to similar incidents in other states.<\/p>\n

\u201cA rough path can be charted from the West Coast through the Midwest and now they appear to be trekking back to the West Coast through northern states,\u201d Arkansas City Police Capt. Eric Burr told the Hays Post.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to assume that this group has been active every day during this three-month period of time. At more than $2,000 for each crime, the total value of theft has to be in the range of $100,000 or more. It seems like we are playing catchup and, on average, we are a week or more behind them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dunlop said the female suspect was filmed in a video wearing a shirt, which says \u201cBest Aunt Ever,\u201d that appeared similar to one she was seen wearing at the Walmart in Durango on video surveillance.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe cannot, however, confirm that we are 100% certain these are the same suspects who came through here,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The couple is believed to be traveling in a silver SUV. Anyone with information about the incidents is asked to call Detective Terry Brookins at 375-4732.<\/p>\n

jromeo@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Authorities say suspects steal wallets, use credit cards<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":53480,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[168,1065,13,28,29,74],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-53479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-crime","tag-durango-police-department","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter","tag-theft"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53479"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53479\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53479"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=53479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}