HANOVER COUNTY, Va. — It's a crime spree that's plagued central Virginia firehouses for more than a month and a half now: firefighters' personal vehicles while they're asleep or out on 911 calls are being targeted by thieves. It happened again Thursday morning at Fire Station No. 4 in Doswell, except this time arrests were made.
Firefighters from Petersburg to Spotsylvania have been in the cross hairs of thieves since mid-December. In the most recent incident in Doswell, three cars had their windows smashed and two others were rummaged through.
Watch: Crime Insider: Thieves targeting firehouses across Central Virginia
"Fortunately, we hadn't been affected in Hanover until last night but we have been aware of a group targeting fire stations around central Virginia for months now breaking into cars or going through unlocked doors and taking items out of firefighters cars," said Sgt. Steven Wills with the Hanover County Sheriff's Office.
The suspects were able to leave before deputies got to the scene but they got a good description of the getaway car.
"That vehicle was later encountered in a different area of the county near Chamberlayne and Atlee where a traffic stop was conducted and three individuals inside were taken into custody," Wills said.
Deputies don't want to say what they found inside, but it was enough for them to call neighboring jurisdictions to send detectives to interview the three people: two men and a teenage boy.
"This is where the investigation gets busy. There's a lot of work that needs to be done to tie these individuals to all the other locations. That's what we are going through. Communicating with our partners. A lot were involved last night in helping us take them into custody," Wills explained.
More than half a dozen agencies are involved in the investigation. Detectives are comparing notes to see how many larceny from automobile charges they can pin on the three people arrested.
Investigators are withholding the names of the suspects due to the ongoing investigations in other jurisdictions.
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