Armed robbery suspects could be linked to string of east side robberies

Indianapolis detectives say five teens arrested for robbing three deaf people outside an east side home last week, could be responsible for dozens of other robberies within the last month.

Brenda Maier and her two friends were robbed at gunpoint last Tuesday night when they pulled up to her Bear Hollow Drive home near North German Church Road.

"Two young men came with a gun on one side of the car and one on the other side," explained Maier's husband Jerold.

As the suspects made their getaway in a green Chevy Blazer, an IMPD detective was passing by and pulled them over. He found a gun, drugs and two purses that belonged to Brenda Maier and her friend.

"If the police officer wasn't there, we wouldn't have known a thing about who done it or anything. It was a miracle," said Jerold Maier.

But what Maier called a miracle has turned out to be good, old fashion police work.

"(The detective) didn't just happen to be in the area," said IMPD spokeswoman Officer Catherine Cummings.

Detectives had kept a close eye on that area for a while, investigating a string of similar robberies.

"When people were returning home, that's when they were being robbed," explained Cummings. "They would commit more than one robbery a day."

Cummings said detectives found several similarities between last week's robbery and the others to have a strong reason to believe they are connected.

Detectives will not release the names or mugshots for the suspects until they have asked all previous victims to identify the suspects.

Police said the catch is a good reminder for bad guys that no matter how  long it takes, officers will eventually catch up.

"It may not happen in a day, it may not happen in a week but you can rest assured, if there's a spike in crime in a particular area, we're aware of it," Cummings said. "We are altering our plans and altering our tactics to do what we can do to catch the people responsible."