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SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- A gang of suspected mall thieves were taken down by a license plate and surveillance system in Sacramento.
Undercover surveillance video showed how the bust went down and it took a gang of suspected thieves out of circulation at Arden Fair Mall.
A sophisticated license plate scan aided in the mission.
"When we get a hit, it's immediate. It sends a warning. It takes a picture of the plate," said Arden Mall security chief Steve Reed.
Surveillance video obtained by KCRA 3 showed Thursday that the security patrol abruptly halted in the parking lot.
"As they went by, they received a hit on one of the vehicles. That was a stolen vehicle. They called and confirmed it," Reed said.
Backtracking security video, four suspects were caught on tape entering the mall after parking. They split up after entering. In the meantime, outside the Sacramento police checked out the stolen rental car -- a fact noted by one of the suspects who was believed to be the lookout.
"It was an organized crime group, that's part of the thing they do is they rent cars," Reed said.
The four were arrested and caught with burglary tools used to remove scanner price tags.
Police searched the car outside.
"And inside we found several thousand dollars worth of merchandise that'd been taken from Ross, Marshalls and Old Navy," Reed said.
The high-tech spying program got underway back in January. It was the result of a unique partnership between mall security and U.S. Homeland Security.
Shoppers just heard about the new system.
"I think it's good. It helps everyone else ... cause who wants their car stolen?" said Elk Grove resident Todd Hanson.
The system is expensive but security believes it is well worth it.
"We've run one and a half million plates since the latter part of December. We've had 19 recovered vehicles that had been stolen and 15 people in custody," Reed said.
Two juveniles and two adults, 28-year-old Genieva Oleman and 24-year-old Charmaine Harrison were arrested and charged with car theft and burglary.
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