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SOUTHAVEN, Miss. — Authorities are looking for a massive ring of car burglars who are traveling from more than two hours away to target northern Mississippi.

Officials say the crooks are coming from Dyersburg, Tennessee. The sheriff says they think they’re using an online real estate app to find homes to target, but it’s been happening all over the county, including parts of Southaven, Olive Branch and Horn Lake.

“How they come up with this I don’t know,” Sheriff Bill Rasco said. “Why they want to come from Dyersburg down to here? There are a lot of subdivisions in between here and Dyersburg.”

Joey Scola lives in the Robinson Crossing subdivision with his family. His son sometimes gets home around 1 a.m., and he says he’s recently seen some suspicious behavior.

“We’re living in DeSoto County where we think crime won’t hit us, but it is hitting us,” Scola said. “We called and reported that there’ve been a lot of folks between 1 and 3, 4 o’clock in the morning driving through neighborhoods, and they’re not folks that live in this neighborhood.”

Rasco says that’s how they caught four suspects early Sunday morning, one juvenile plus three adults: Alexis Parker-Green, Ronald Wesley and Tavarius Weaver.

He says those four are not alone though. They think they’re part of a ring of crooks — up to 25 total — making their way down to DeSoto county all the way from Dyersburg.

Rasco says they’ve taken items including credit cards, and especially guns.

“It’s not good to leave your weapon in your vehicle and leave it unlocked,” Rasco said. “If you come out and they have the weapon, they’ll use it on you.”

Rasco said the biggest thing he’d tell people to do is leave their lights on at night, make sure vehicles are locked and make sure “nothing in pure plain view where someone would break window to obtain it.”

DeSoto County officials say they’re working with the Dyersburg Police Department to try to find some of this stolen property.

They ask neighbors to contact law enforcement if they see anything. Keep your eyes peeled, especially at night.

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