When they broke into Boogaloos and pepper-sprayed an employee at Kalidescope, we were still referring to them as if they were cartoon villains on par with Yosemite Sam.

I’m happy to report (um…observe?) that not only do Atlanta Police finally seem to have the number of local gang members with a penchant for stealing blue jeans and flat-screens – 9 more were arrested yesterday after an early morning jean heist in downtown Atlanta – but because the APD and journos have pieced the story of the “30 Deep” gang together, we’re no longer hearing these organized criminals referred to as “blue jean bandits”.

Thank goodness.

The AJC has a sweeping overview of the blue jean theft scourge sweeping the metro area and what its doing to boutique owners costs (in terms of hiked insurance and increased security) in an already tough economy.

A couple of interesting quotes included here. The first is from store owner Bill Hallman…

“I’ve never seen anything like this. It’s crazy,” said Bill Hallman, who has owned boutiques for 18 years and now runs a mini-empire that includes two shops in Virginia Highland and another in Little Five Points. “I have friends with stores in other cities, and I’m asking what’s happening in Chicago, Miami, L.A. I’m not hearing any of this.”

So, it sounds like its an Atlanta-specific crime wave…which kinda kills the theory that these guys are just selling the stuff on Ebay. Again I ask…Where are they unloading it?

The second is a quote from Decatur’s own Camille Wright…

Store owner Camille Wright figures the thieves got away with $10,000 worth of men’s jeans, a big blow considering Father’s Day was just two weeks away.

“To have somebody come in and just take it, it’s just a complete violation,” she said.

“Every person I know who owns a boutique is someone who’s working hard and struggling to make it in a bad economy. So to have this happen just adds insult to injury.”

It sure does. Take heart Camille! Decatur residents are behind you!

Shop local!

Hells yes.

This morning the AJC details the arrest of the “blue jean bandits” that attempted to rob the Saks Off-5th store in Dawsonville and provides new developments on the search for the guys that stole a bunch of clothes and attacked store clerks at Kaleidoscope and a Buckhead boutique last week.

“On Thursday, police obtained warrants for Slyricus Winder, one of several individuals suspected in the violent robbery June 4 of the Kaleidoscope Boutique in Decatur. When the warrants were issued, Winder already was in Atlanta police custody on unrelated charges of theft and obstructing an officer.

“Somebody gave some pretty good information, and we were able to secure the warrant for the armed robbery,” said Atlanta police Officer Ron Campbell.

Decatur police have charged Winder in connection with the Kaleidoscope robbery.”

Thanks to Eric for the link. I started hearing murmurs of this yesterday, but hadn’t had time to post.

I got a couple of comments yesterday that pointed to a “blue jean bandits” arrest up in Dawsonville, after another van full of geniuses attempted to rob the Saks Off-5th at N. Georgia Premium Outlets.

The AJC gave details about the arrest this morning…

In Tuesday’s attempted robbery, a private security guard at the North Georgia Premium Outlets in Dawsonville noticed a silver van backed up to Saks Fifth Avenue Off 5th at about 5:30 a.m. The same store was hit a few weeks ago by smash-and-grab burglars who stole several thousand dollars’ worth of blue jeans, Dawson sheriff’s Sgt. Tony Wooten said.

He said the suspects apparently saw the guard and left, then were pursued by two Dawson Sheriff’s deputies into Forsyth County.

Those deputies used a “stop stick” —- a strip with small spikes designed to puncture tires —- to force the van off the road.

After crashing the van, which had been reported stolen in Atlanta, the suspects ran on foot, sparking a manhunt by deputies on the ground and in the air, as well as with K-9 units.

But lest we get too confused by the generic cute name given to these criminals by the press (using the “think of a word that starts with ‘B’ and then add the word “bandits” to the end” formula – i.e. ‘the barbie bandits’), these aren’t the guys that robbed Kaleidescope last week. All over metro Atlanta, DIFFERENT groups of young men are robbing unsuspecting boutiques and selling the goods…somewhere.

And that’s the real crux of this crime spree. No single arrest is going to make this problem go away. Authorities are going to need to determine who or what is fueling this sudden criminal interest in fashion. Someone is making it really easy to unload this stuff, and THAT’S who APD/Decatur PD/Dawsonville PD ultimately need to shut down. Maybe these new arrests will provide info to help solve that mystery.

Then maybe, just maybe, boutique owners this city-over will begin to sleep a bit easier at night.

I hope so. There’s a whole “men preying on women” component here that just makes my stomach turn.

Fox5 (video) reports that the infamous metro area “blue jean bandits” broke into Boogaloos sometime last night and stole a lot of expensive jeans.

Let’s hope insurance will cover their loss.

Thanks to Rus for the tip.

UPDATE: The AJC reports that a jogger heard glass shatter and quickly notified the police.  According to the report, it is still unclear whether anything was taken.