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.