Husband, wife arrested in major retail theft ring

A 30-year leader in law enforcement is calling it the worst he's ever seen.

A major retail theft raid has uncovered hundreds of thousands of dollars in stolen items. There are so many stolen items Harris County Precinct-4 is nowhere near large enough to hold it all.

“I've never seen anything like this in my 30 year career,” says Harris County Precinct-4 Constable Mark Herman.

Inside a five-bedroom home in Houston's Mission Bend area, Precinct-4 Deputy Constables say they found stolen items stacked from floor to ceiling in almost every room.

“Enough to fill two big U-Haul trucks. We're in the process now determining by barcode which stores it came from,” Constable Herman explains.

After raiding the house, officers arrested Andre Nguyen and his wife Julie.  They also confiscated a couple of luxury cars including a Jaguar.

Constable Herman says the Nguyens have been running a major retail theft ring.

“Basically had people going out, stealing from Home Depot, Target, Lowe's stores. They would literally give them lists to go out and get these power tools, vacuum cleaners,” Herman adds.  

The investigation into the Nguyens began three months ago after an Atascocita Target store was hit.  Later that day deputies say they caught the same two men trying to shoplift from another Target.

“They saw our patrol cars. They took off running separately. We caught one by vehicle. We let our dog go on another and he was caught."

Meanwhile, neighbors near the Nguyens are shocked.

“It's very quiet over here.  It'S a normal neighborhood, filled with families,” explains neighbor Travis Nguyen.

“The investigation is going to continue. We know there were other henchmen, if you will, that were actually doing the stealing but I can assure you we cut the head off the snake,” says Constable Herman.

He also says thieves from this theft ring were stealing from stores all across the state.

Andre and Julie Nguyen are each being held on a half million dollar bond.