Police took a step forward in Madison's ongoing battle with crime Wednesday when they announced five robbery suspects were arrested in what police are calling ""a domino effect"" case.
Monday police were notified that a large stock of copper had been stolen from a local construction site. Officers then warned recycling businesses throughout Madison of the robbery.
Shortly after, a business reported ""suspicious behavior"" to police as two suspects—Arlysa Chatman, 19, of Fitchburg and Joseph Billups, 18, of Chicago—tried to sell the stolen materials to that particular business. Police responded and arrested the two.
Later on Monday, according to Madison Police Department spokesperson Mike Hanson, three other suspects—Tyler Watson, 24; Danielle Gehrt, 24; and Mark Delao, 26, all of Madison—were found breaking into numerous vehicles with burglary tools.
Upon investigation, police said they found that the three were in possession of other stolen property, which police have yet to release.
Hanson said the investigation continues and police are looking into why the five suspects are related. All five face charges of stolen property and the three that were caught later in the day face theft charges as well as possession of burglary tools and stolen property.
However, while they sift through the evidence, Hanson said returning the stolen property is going to be difficult because very little of the recovered material has identifying marks.
Still, Hanson said it is unlikely that any of the recovered property belongs to the victims of burglaries downtown and mostly concerns the east side and a little bit on the west side.
