Four people were arrested after investigators determined they were members of a criminal organization that stole sneakers from a train in northern Arizona.
Around 8 a.m. on Wednesday, someone contacted 911 to report the heist. Law enforcement officers arrived at the railway underpass on Airport Road in Williams and scoured the area for the criminals.
The four adults were discovered nearby and placed into custody without incident. Deputies and officers recovered several pairs of the stolen sneakers.
Investigators suspect the crew is part of a larger organized crime organization that has carried out train heists along Interstate 40 and the BNSF Railway route in Northern Arizona.
Last month in Ash Fork, thieves attacked a train containing pricey technology, and days later, suspects took undisclosed merchandise off a train between Ash Fork and Seligman.
Arizona’s Family has covered multiple train cargo heists in northern Arizona. Earlier this year, multiple individuals stole high-end items from boxcars outside Joseph City, west of Holbrook.
On multiple previous occasions, criminals stole hundreds of pairs of Nike shoes valued thousands of dollars.
Four people were indicted in January 2025 after being discovered with about $50,000 worth of Nike shoes taken from a BNSF train in northern Arizona on its way to Dick’s Sporting Goods.
Eleven others were charged in connection with another train robbery roughly 20 miles northwest of Williams that also featured Nike shoes. The stolen master cases of previously unreleased sneakers were worth an estimated $202,000.
Then, in March 2025, around $300,000 worth of Nike sneakers were stolen from a train near Interstate 40 just south of Kingman. At least one individual was arrested in the case. Later that month, Hualapai Nation police apprehended two illegal immigrants suspected of involvement in at least one train robbery after a pursuit on Route 66.
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