IUPD officers bust 2 male subjects for possible car theft

An observant IU Police Department officer's investigation of three suspicious subjects resulted in four arrests and more than $7,000 in recovered stolen property.\nNon-students Jerick Mills and Danny Smith, along with two juveniles, were arrested and charged with theft-receiving and theft from a vehicle. The subjects are also being investigated for suspicion in their involvement with a string of other burglaries throughout the city of Bloomington and the IU campus, according to IUPD reports. \nOfficer Ashley Keene observed three male subjects wearing black hooded sweatshirts walking around and suspiciously looking in cars in the McNutt Quad parking lot. The subjects were observed looking into the more luxurious, expensive cars and were approached by Keene. \nThey were questioned about what they were doing in the parking lot and replied that they were not students and had just decided "to go for a walk."\nOfficers Joe Amandola and Ryan Corbett arrived and frisked the subjects for weapons because of their suspicious actions, IUPD reports said. \nThe officers found wire clippers and a pellet gun on their persons, and obtained permission to search their car. Inside the car, the officers found what Lt. Jerry Minger called "burglar tools," which included "ignition punches." \nPermission was then obtained by the officers to search some of the suspects' residences, which turned up stolen property amounting to around $7,000 in equipment.\n"If it wasn't for our officer, more cars probably would have been broken into that night," Minger said, "and (now) could still be being broken into."\nMills and Smith could not be reached for comment.\n-- Contact staff writer Mike Wilson at mhwilson@indiana.edu.