Flash mobs of all sorts are typically organized through social media sites, email and text messages. But Montgomery County police say that’s not how the group of teens who raided a Germantown convenience store in a flash mob theft earlier this month banded together. Officers, though, cracked the case by using video-sharing site YouTube.
A group of 25 young people stormed the 7-Eleven at 13001 Wisteria Drive shortly before 2 a.m. on Aug. 13. In just about a minute, they stole snacks, drinks and other items from the store, then left, police said.
Charges have now been placed against 17 people — 14 juveniles and three adults — in the incident. Charges include theft, conspiracy to commit theft and disorderly conduct.
Sites like Twitter and Facebook have been used to plan other, non-criminal flash mob gatherings, from pillow fights to silent dances to singing a cappella.
But the teens are believed to have planned the 7-Eleven theft while they were together at the Montgomery County Fair, said Officer Janelle Smith, a police spokeswoman.
The group then took a bus together to Germantown and raided the store, she said.
But social media did play a role in helping investigators solve the case. Police posted surveillance video from the store on YouTube. And tips from the public helped police identify the suspects, Smith said. She said officers also worked with county school officials to identify the teens.
Officer Howard Hersh, another police spokesman, said the department has posted surveillance footage on YouTube in the past, but “a lot of public support” helped that footage lead to identifying so many subjects in the flash mob case.
“It certainly worked this time,” he said.
One other person was identified, but authorities determined that the teen was not involved in the thefts and had inadvertently entered the 7-Eleven during the incident.
The names of the juvenile suspects were not released because they are minors. Police did not release the names of the adult suspects because they had not been served as of early Friday evening.
Police are still trying to identify the other people involved.
The teens took about $450 worth of merchandise from the store, police said.
Hersh said the department hopes to prevent future flash mob thefts through enforcement.
“What they thought might have been a free ride, was not,” he said.
