SELMA, Texas – Police in Selma have arrested a man suspected of being tied to an organized theft operation involving stolen Yeti coolers.
They arrested Leon Gamble, Jr., Tuesday on a charge of organized retail theft.
An arrest warrant affidavit said that employees of Academy Sports and Outdoors, located in the 15300 block of IH-35, called police Feb. 8 after realizing that two men had stolen Yeti coolers from the store.
It said they found surveillance video showing the suspects escaping through an emergency exit and carrying the coolers which were valued at about $1,200.
Selma police later put out a bulletin to other law enforcement agencies and received information from police in Fort Worth.
The affidavit said officers there reported seeing ads on a website called OfferUp.com in which someone was selling the stolen coolers.
They were able to tie Gamble and a second suspect to the ads and identify them as the people in the store surveillance video, the affidavit said.
Selma police said they found records showing the two stayed at a motel in their city around the same time the theft was committed.
They said they also learned that Gamble and the other suspect are wanted in connection with thefts in Houston, San Antonio, Denton, Flower Mound, Grapevine, and Ft. Worth, as well as two cities in Louisiana.
It’s unclear whether the second suspect has been arrested.