Pleasant Grove police arrested five people Wednesday for their suspected involvement in a ring of burglaries around Utah and Salt Lake Counties.

According to a press release, the individuals have been involved for some time in residential and vehicle burglaries, credit card fraud, check forgeries, identity theft and drug crimes. Lt. Michael Smith of the Pleasant Grove Police Department said the ring came to light after a man reported a burglary of his shed. The man identified individuals in his neighborhood who he believed may have been involved, and subsequent investigations turned up several additional crimes.

"It appears that they've been doing it for some time now," he said.

Smith said Brandon Behunin, Ricky Martinez, Matthew Mercer, Elizabeth Hayden and Kimberly Carter were arrested on suspicion of several burglaries amounting to thousands of dollars of stolen goods. The car and home burglaries often resulted in stolen credit cards and checks, which the group then used to buy clothing and electronics, including a 32-inch LCD television. They also had equipment to make fake identification to help sell the items at various pawn shops.

Police are still looking for more people that may have been involved in the ring, which Smith said often looked for unlocked cars and dimly lit homes from which to steal.

"These types of people, they go for the easy target," he said.

Smith said the discovery of the crimes all stemmed from one burglary report, which eventually led to a long paper trail. The group was heavily involved in credit card fraud and forged checks, and their spending sprees left a lot of receipts behind.

"We found a whole bin of checks and receipts that they shredded before we got to it," he said.

Several members of the group were also booked into the Utah County Jail on drug charges. Smith said most of the members have been known to police for some time because of their drug use, which he said is the motivation for the thefts.

"This is a way of life for these people," he said.

Smith said it is not yet clear how many crimes the ring has been involved in or how many people have participated. Much of the merchandise and materials stolen will never be returned to the rightful owners because police reports have not been filed.

After the ring was discovered, Smith said a man came forward whose weed eater had been stolen six months earlier, but a report had not been filed.

Items can still be claimed if the owner proves it is theirs, but Smith said filing a police report would make the investigation and subsequent prosecution easier.

"That we can prove, I think we'll probably see about 20 counts [of theft]," he said.