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Wednesday, January 12, 2005

ALABAMA COMPUTER THEFT RING BROKENWSFA TV Montgomery, AL - Police Bust Computer Theft Ring; Suspect Raises International SuspicionJanuary 11, 10:45 p.m.
Police Bust Computer Theft Ring; Suspect Raises International Suspicion
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Montgomery Police have busted what they call a huge theft ring operating all over Central Alabama. So far, three men are charged with multiple counts - but police say more charges could come soon, and there's another twist.

It looks like the typical computer business but investigators say PC and More was a lot more, the center of a theft ring stretching from Lowndes County to Clanton, to Florida. Montgomery Police spokesman Lt. Huey Thornton explains.

"Several businesses burglarized, several computers stolen, and it appears all of them or the majority of them were fenced here in Montgomery," he said.

Investigators first broke the case when they busted these two men, (at left) Christopher Cleare and Willie Bryant, as they burglarized an Alfa Realty office in Clanton. During questioning, the men admitted to burglarizing several insurance, law and realty companies. From there, investigators tracked their loot back to PC and More's back door, where they say this man, Ibrahim Mohammad Jallad entered the picture.

"We did have computers delivered to the business and they were accepted by the owner of the business," Thornton said.

But Jallad threw investigators for a loop. He gave them several different names during questioning. Because of his Kuwaiti background, police were eventually forced to contact immigrations, the National Terrorism Task Force and Interpol to verify his identity.

Eventually, officers learned Jallad is here in the united states legally. We tried to speak with him Tuesday, but he declined comment, saying he fears retribution from police. His attorney also declined comment saying he does not talk about active cases. As for those high end computers jallad is accused of fencing, nobody knows for sure if they went overseas or not.

Police say this bust is the result of a sixteen month investigation into the theft ring, and these three arrests probably aren't the last.

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