Police Schedule Press Conference for So-Called ‘Flash-Mob’ Theft

Police plan to brief reporters today on the apparent group theft at a 7-Eleven in Germantown — the highly publicized incident formerly known as the "flash-mob" theft.

Cpt. Luther Reynolds, commander of the 5th District Station in Germantown, will address the media during a noon press conference at the station, where State's Attorney John McCarthy and Councilman Craig Rice, D-district 2, are also expected to speak.

Surveillance footage from the 7-Eleven at 13001 Wisteria Drive shows 25 suspects simultaneously entering the convenience store, grabbing snacks before leaving in unison. Police posted the footage on their YouTube channel two days later, which has since tallied more than 140,000 views.

The incident initially was dubbed the "flash mob" theft and made national headlines, though the social media component seems to have been missing from the Germantown case. Investigators believe that the suspects may have hatched their scheme earlier that night at the Montgomery County Agricultural Fair, before catching the last bus to Germantown.

Police have said they’ve identified more than half of the suspects — the bulk of those positive ID’s reportedly came after investigators turned to the in-school police officer for Germantown and pored through Facebook profiles and high school yearbooks, Patch reported Wednesday.