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FBI Hoping to Break Jewel Thieving Ring; U.S. Commanders Say Car Bombings Decreasing; Hope Comes to Rwanda AIDS Patients; Suspects Arrested in Murder of Teen Dad; Inside the Mind of a Terrorist

Aired December 01, 2005 - 13:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

KYRA PHILLIPS, HOST: From CNN world headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Kyra Phillips. Here's the stories we're working on for you right now.
Promise, promises, on World AIDS Day 2005. The World AIDS campaign wants governments to talk less and act more.

An epidemic of jewel heists is plaguing stores in malls from Connecticut to Florida. We'll get the 411 from the FBI.

And check out this wild ride for two unlucky window washers, 12 stories high in the windy city. The washers came through it better than the windows.

CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.

Billions of dollars, dozens of heists. But the FBI is dropping the net on a cruel -- a crew, rather, of jewel thieves that have been staging capers all along the East Coast.

CNN's Gary Nuremberg is in Washington with more on efforts to crack the gate cutter case. What kind of goods are we talking about, Gary?

GARY NUREMBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, it's really hard to imagine that something this simple could be so profitable. More than $5 million in stolen jewelry in the last year, two and a half years alone, stretching from New Hampshire down to southern Florida. Now the FBI is worried that it's moving west.

They're about to announce, we understand, Operation Gate Cutter, a collaborative operation with 49 local jurisdictions that have been hit in 12 states. These people move fast, and the name is appropriate, Operation Gate Cutter.

The jewel thieves go in with apparently those big bolt cutters, hit the gates that we all see in the jewelry stores in malls, usually do this just as the mall is closing at night or opening in the morning, get in and get out fast.

Kyra, I talked to a detective in Arlington, Virginia, about a robbery that happened there last year. Surveillance tape says they started at 10:30. They were done at 10:36 at night and left with $140,000. So far, apparently, the FBI has been having a difficult time catching them.

Once in the stores, they just smash, grab, and run. FBI's going to tell us more about it and when it does, Kyra, we'll let you know.

PHILLIPS: Sounds good, Gary. We'll talk to you then. Thanks so much.

Meanwhile, we want to go to Iraq now. Talking about this hour, U.S. military operations under way in the heartland of the Sunni-led insurgency. The aim: wipe out as many insurgents as possible before crucial national elections later this month. Diplomats are working furiously to win the freedom of five western hostages seized last week. And more American troops killed in combat operations.

CNN senior international correspondent Nic Robertson now in Baghdad.

Nic, tell us first about these hostages and the status, anything that you know.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There's nothing new that's developed. Tom Fox, the U.S. hostage, a 54-year-old divorced father of two, from Virginia. The U.S. embassy here has acknowledged that he has gone missing, been taken captive.

They say that they are working with other embassies here, with other international officials who also have foreign nationals here. They'll do whatever they can to -- they will do what they can with those foreign embassies here to help secure release of foreign nationals. Obviously, they say they're not going to -- not going to get into any negotiations with insurgents, however, over this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAJ. GEN. RICK LYNCH, MULTI-NATIONAL FORCE, IRAQ: Zarqawi and terrorist foreign fighters are using the Euphrates River valley as the line of operation into Baghdad to conduct his horrific acts of violence. One of the munitions that he uses is BBIED's, car bombings.

In the month of November, there's only been 68 car bombs. Last February there were 130 car bombs. We had 11 car bombs this past week, 24, the week before. So as you look at trend lines, you see a significant reduction in car bombs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: Well, who we were hearing from there was a U.S. spokesman on the operation End Heat, which is in the Euphrates River Valley here, and it's the latest operation, Operation Iron Hammer.

It is crossing over the Euphrates River to the quieter side where it's believed that al Qaeda has been building car bombs. And what the U.S. commander was saying there is the U.S. operations over the last few months in that very strategic and important Euphrates River Valley that connects Syria with Baghdad. They say the results of all these operations, including the one that's under way right now, Iron Hammer, is meaning that the car bombs are going down.

But there's an important caveat, a warning that comes with that observation on the statistic. That is, the next 15 days to the elections could be very bloody. The same commander says he expects the possibility, the very real possibility, of spikes in violence in the next two weeks, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Nic Robertson, live from Baghdad. We'll follow the next two weeks, of course, closely. Thanks, Nic.

Twenty-four years, 23 million people dead. The AIDS pandemic is a modern day plague, every day of every year, at least since 1981, when it was first given a name in America.

But once a year, the world takes particular note, and today's the day. As we speak, an estimated 40 million people around the world are living with HIV. The U.N. estimates that more than half of those, some 26 million, live in Africa. A million or more live in the United States.

More than three million people have died of AIDS worldwide this year alone. And despite all the spending, research, cutting-edge treatments, the World Bank says that 2005 will be the worst year ever for HIV infections and AIDS deaths.

Against that backdrop, President Bush today embellished his emergency plan for AIDS relief.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Today, I'm pleased to announce the New Partners Initiative. Through this initiative, which is part of the emergency plan, we will further reach out to our faith-based and community organizations that provide much of the health care in the developing world and make sure they have access to American assistance. By identifying and supporting these organizations, we will rich more people more effectively and save more lives.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: I mentioned Africa, a continent ravaged by a treatable disease. It is ridden by political, logistical, cultural, and just about every other obstacle to treating it.

CNN's Sanjay Gupta filed this report from Rwanda.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is a meeting of the local AIDS association in Kwabo (ph) district, eastern Rwanda.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (through translator): Let me tell you, AIDS, I know you. I can fight you because I know you.

Some of my sisters and brothers died because of AIDS.

GUPTA: About one Rwandan in 10 is infected with the HIV virus. Sadly, in sub-Saharan Africa, that's par for the course.

(on camera) How many people had a full meal today? How many people know somebody who's died of HIV? Wow. Everybody. Just about every single person.

(voice-over) But here in the most unlikely of places is a kind of oasis: what amounts to a first rate hospital in a third world environment. It's run by the Boston-based group Partners in Health.

DR. MICHAEL RICH, PARTNERS IN HEALTH: This is almost the same conditions as Haiti so it's very, very similar.

GUPTA: In Haiti, Partners in Health proved patients in poor countries would stick to a treatment regiment, that if medication was available, patients could get better if they also got nourishment. You see, without food, the medicine won't work. Here, every AIDS patient and their family gets at least a six-month food supply.

RICH: A lot of organizations are going in and starting up HIV programs. And they're being very specific that they're treating HIV, but they're not addressing some of the other problems. And we have the complete opposite philosophy, that we can't just go in and say, you know, "Sorry, you don't have HIV; we can't help you."

GUPTA (on camera): When we first arrived here the 10-foot brush outside had been cleared. But there was still a lot of work to do. The hospital had only been half rebuilt. They'd still need an operating room and lots of medical supplies.

This room could be a patient ward, but they need fresh paint, new windows and at least 15 to 20 beds.

(voice-over) At least the pharmacy was stocked, and there was no shortage of patients. The project was made possible with money from Rwanda's government and with help from the Clinton Foundation, which brokered a deal that lowered the cost of AIDS fighting medicine, from around $10,000 a year per patient, to less than $500.

But money alone can't buy hope. It takes political will, hard work, and in eastern Rwanda, a bicycle.

Jean-Claude is a volunteer. He rides through the countryside visiting the same two patients day after day, delivering AIDS medication, making sure they take it, asking about their health. One of Jean-Claude's charges is John Konange (ph). Before the small hospital was built, he spent his small life's savings on doctors who could offer little in the way of help. Now, on anti-viral medication, he's getting stronger.

(on camera) What would have happened if you didn't get the medicine?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would have died.

GUPTA (voice-over): Like Konange (ph), his community is slowly but surely coming back to life. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, in Rwanda.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Sanjay is going to join us live in the 2 p.m. Eastern hour. You won't want to miss our discussion.

Meanwhile, straight ahead, Terrell Pough gained national attention as a teenaged single dad. He worked long hours, raised his son (sic) and stayed in school. So why would anyone want to gun him down? New developments in that case when LIVE FROM continues.

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PHILLIPS: In Philadelphia, two men now charged with gunning down a young single father in front of his home.

Terrell Pough was killed two weeks ago on his way home from work. Pough, 18 years old, was profiled in "People" magazine in August for working long hours and staying in school, while supporting his 2-year- old daughter, Diamond.

Police say the suspect knew Pough from school.

Our Chris Huntington is live with more on the developments in the case. Chris, how did they find these guys?

CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, there was one crucial clue that helped coalesce a bunch of leads, and that was the car that, in fact, had been given to Terrell Pough, part of the outpouring of donations following the "People" magazine article.

The car was missing immediately after the murder. It was turned up this past Sunday. So about a week and a half after the murder took place, through a series of traces, they were able to trace it back to these two suspects with the help of federal agents.

Now the Philadelphia police force here was very out front about giving credit to the help they got from the -- apparently the FBI and members of the U.S. marshals. They wouldn't specify exactly what type of help that was.

But what we were able to determine in discussions with the Philadelphia police is that one of the suspects, Antoine Riggins, 20 years old, was -- is a person that the police are saying is someone who is known to law enforcement. I asked outright, did Riggins have a prior record. Said they couldn't confirm that, but with sort a wink said he is known to law enforcement.

And the fact that the feds were brought to bear in this case may provide some more light on exactly what was going on. Right now, there's no talk from the law enforcement authorities about an actual motive.

PHILLIPS: How's his daughter Diamond doing, Chris? HUNTINGTON: Diamond is 2 years old. It is just gut-wrenching to try to figure out what she's going through. There's one ray of hope in this, and that is that she is -- that her birth mother is around. Terrell and Charmaine Houston, who was 15 at the time when Diamond was born, were boyfriend and girlfriend. They became estranged. They separated, and Terrell had sole custody of Diamond.

But the good news is that Charmaine has been part of Diamond's life. She's much more on the scene now, and with the help of other relatives, and in particular, we're told, Terrell's mother and his aunt, there is something, if you will, a cradle of love around this little child -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Chris Huntington, thank you.

Well, gang co-founder Tookie Williams' fate is in the hands of a California governor -- of the California governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, right now. The state supreme court turned down a bid yesterday to reopen Stanley "Tookie" Williams' case.

He's sentenced to die on December 13 for the murders of four people in 1979. He's always denied guilt in those crimes. And in the early '70s, Williams helped start that violent Crips street gang in Los Angeles. Williams says that he's turned his back on the violence, though, and has written several children's books warning against gang life.

Celebrities, clergy, politicians and others want Governor Schwarzenegger to grant clemency to Williams, commuting his sentence to life in prison. Oscar winner Jamie Foxx, who played Williams in a TV movie, and rapper Snoop Dogg, a one-time Crips gang member, joined a day of action rally yesterday, calling for clemency.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMIE FOXX, ACTOR: Governor Schwarzenegger, we're not trying to push you into a corner. We realize that you have a tough job to do and you're very busy, but in being very busy, you may not get a chance to hear everything about the case. So we don't want you to make a decision without knowing everything. And I'm sure that once you learn everything about this unique case, you won't kill him on my birthday.

SNOOP DOGG, RAPPER: Once I went there and I seen the movie, I fell in love with this guy's character, with Tookie's character. I loved what he was doing and what he was trying to do to redeem himself and to transform himself. And I took a little bit of him and put it within myself and it transformed me into what I am right now, such a positive inspirational influence out there to the kids, where I could really stand in front of kids and really not be ashamed of what I am and what I do, because I give them something positive at the end of the day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Coming up on LIVE FROM, is this the face of a suicide bomber? Take a look at this picture? Well, police in Europe think so. And it's blowing the lid off of everything that experts believe about the most desperate and dangerous people on earth. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Straight to the newsroom. Fredricka Whitfield working a story.

Fred, I thought the only person that wouldn't have to serve jury duty would be the president of the United States.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: You thought wrong. We're talking about the ultimate in civic service duty.

Well, have you ever wondered what would happen if the president of the United States were called to report to jury duty? We're about to find out, because President Bush is potential juror No. 286 in his adopted hometown of Crawford, Texas. The McLennan County officials say that the summons is in the mail, and he's expected to report to jury duty on Monday.

But up until today, the White House had said it really didn't know much about this summons for reporting to jury duty. But today, press secretary Scott McClellan had this to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We never received a jury summons from the court. We checked but when we learned about it, I think through media reports, we did reach out to the court to find out about this jury summons. And apparently, this summons was for Monday, December 5.

We have since called the court to inform them that the president has other commitments on Monday and that he would like to reschedule his jury duty. And so we'll be working with the court to reschedule his jury duty.

The judge, in fact, was the one who we reached out to and contacted, and he indicated that would be fine and that he would work with us to reschedule.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Other commitments like running the country, Kyra. So imagine, if, indeed, he were not to be excused and would report to jury there in McLennan County in Crawford, Texas, imagine the security for that courtroom, the number of Secret Service agents that would descend on that city outside of the number of Secret Service agents that are already there, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Can you just imagine, though, the security at something like that? It would be insane.

All right, Fred. Thanks.

WHITFIELD: All right. PHILLIPS: Well, millions of people are bracing their thumbs right now, waiting to see what happens next in the Blackberry patent fight.

We first reported yesterday that a judge ruled a settlement invalid between the company that makes the tiny little text senders and the company that says it holds the patent on the device. Well, the judge could reissue an injunction that would shut down Blackberry service in the U.S. as soon as February.

The Blackberry was introduced in 1998. There are now more than four million Blackberries in use around the world. Most, about 70 percent, are in the U.S. And an injunction could affect some three million subscribers.

Can you imagine? What would you do without your Blackberry? I remember the days without it; it was pretty nice and calm.

Stocks are in rally mode right now in Wall Street. Susan Lisovicz joins us live from the New York Stock Exchange. I bet she's got a Blackberry and wouldn't be too disappointed if it got shut off for awhile.

(STOCK REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: You're watching LIVE FROM on CNN, the most trusted name in news.

PHILLIPS: The many faces of terrorism. What do you think a terrorist looks like, sounds like? Swarthy young man with wild eyes spewing hate slogans? Well, you'd be so very wrong. Just check the news.

A suicide bomber in Iraq last month, believed to be a woman born and raised in Belgium. She hardly fits anybody's profile of a die- hard militant.

2002, the Chechens who took over that theater in Moscow, half of them, women, the so-called black widows, blamed for attacks around Moscow and for bringing at least two airliners down.

Then there's Beslan. At least two of the attackers who held an entire school hostage were Chechen women, pointing rifles and strapped to bombs. They all died when Russian troops freed the hostages.

And in Sri Lanka, an entire military wing of the anti-government Tamal Tigers is made up only of women. They've blown themselves up or attacked police and political targets for nearly two decades. Most noticeably, a Tamal woman killed herself and former Indian prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi, in 1991.

Palestinian groups use women as suicide bombers. One of the top leaders of Spain's guerrilla group allegedly is a woman. And remember Germany's red army faction that terrorized Europe in the '70s and '80s? Several of their most notorious members weren't men, Middle Eastern or anything that fits the stereotypical terror profile.

The book "Rage of the Random Actor" aims to decode some mysteries about the people behind some of the most horrific human acts. Dan Korem wrote it. He joins me now live from Dallas.

Dan, good to see you.

DAN KOREM, AUTHOR, "RAGE OF THE RANDOM ACTOR": Good to see you, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, I think we should define random actor. I asked you, why call this -- an individual random actor, not just say a suicide bomber? Explain the term.

KOREM: The random actor's an actual behavioral profile. And almost every suicide attacker, mass school shooter, postal shooter, serial killer, has this profile. Let me walk you through it real quickly. If there's two sides a profile, how a person communicates and how they perform tasks and make decisions, which side of the profile do you think the random actor operates out of? Which part kills you: how they talk or how they perform tasks and make decisions?

PHILLIPS: It's a good question.

KOREM: It's how they perform tasks and make decision. How they talk is irrelevant. That's why when people say he seemed like -- or she seemed like such a nice person, they're looking at the wrong part of the profile.

Second, there's two basic core performance traits. How a person walks, if you will. One, are they conventional or unconventional? In a company, for example, conventional would be accountant, unconventional might be research and development. Why side do you think that the suicide attacker operates on: conventional or unconventional?

PHILLIPS: I don't know. What would you...

KOREM: Just your best guess. What would be your best guess, your intuition as a reporter?

PHILLIPS: Conventional.

KOREM: Actually, it's unconventional. They're doing something that's out of the box, not something that people expect. Second, how do they make decisions? That's the second trait you have to look at. Do they make decisions out of confidence or do they make decisions out of fear, which reveals itself in despondency, futility. They feel the world's against them. Which side...

PHILLIPS: Oh, fear. KOREM: Which side do you think -- exactly. You just described the two behavioral traits of every virtually every suicide attacker, masked school shooter, the London tube attackers, et cetera.

PHILLIPS: So, you...

KOREM: That's the random actor profile.

PHILLIPS: OK, so when we're talking about female suicide bombers, then I have a number of questions. I think of a number of these suicide bombers -- these female -- they're mothers. I mean, how can you -- how can you leave your children orphaned like that?

KOREM: In fact, that's the very point. Women, for example, are less likely to commit violent crimes than men. So something has to be a tipping point. In a suicide attacker environment, first you find a female, a woman or young teen who has the profile. In other words, these two traits I just described, the random actor traits.

Second, something goes south in their personal life. A father was killed, a brother was decapitated by a shell. In one case, the first suicide attack in Israel, the young woman was found infertile, husband divorced her. So for a woman to commit this type of an irrational act, in virtually every single case, something has gone south in her personal life.

PHILLIPS: So this woman...

KOREM: So you have the random actor...

PHILLIPS: OK, so this woman in Belgium, OK, a lot of people are saying, oh, she was brainwashed by her husband. Could that be the case? Or is it, like you said, something happened in her life, something went south?

KOREM: Yes. One, the random actor traits are always extreme. There's always an extreme behavioral paper trail. So as the story about her tumbles out, look for the type of things that she did and she was interested in. You'll find she was typically interested in things that were unconventional and that she was filled with some sort of despondency from some sort of an incident. Then her attachment to her husband could create the packaging, what we call packaging or thought reform process, to ship her out the door.

Interestingly enough, though, many women don't complete their attack if they see anything that reminds them of former stability in their personal life. For example, in the Beslan incident that, you, you know referenced in Russia, the women did not want to blow themselves up. The leader of the -- of that pack, actually was the one who pressed the detonation button and killed them. So women...

PHILLIPS: So what do they think they're getting out of this?

KOREM: Release from pain. I mean, at the bottom, at the end of the day, they're not really getting anything out of it except relief from the misery. And it's very unfortunate. PHILLIPS: So it's not necessarily...

KOREM: But fortunately...

PHILLIPS: ... a religious goal like we see in these Muslim extremists. You're saying...

KOREM: No.

PHILLIPS: ... in a situation like this, it's more some type of pain in their heart and their mind and their soul and this is the best way to release it in their mind.

KOREM: And not even the best way. It's the option that they see in front of them. Mohammed Atta, for example...

PHILLIPS: So it's timing, whoever gets in there.

KOREM: Well, what most people don't know is, he was an affluent individual. He was educated. Most suicide attackers are educated, affluent, come from suburbs, small towns. Atta's father divorced his mother after 40 years of marriage and that was the tipping point when he decided to become an extremist.

People just don't all of a sudden one day wake up and say I'm going to be a suicide attacker. First they have the random actor profile, then something goes south in their personal life, stresses are added. Then you get detonation.

PHILLIPS: So is there any -- I'm sorry, go ahead.

KOREM: Yes. In Iraq, there was an elite cadre, if you will, that we trained.

PHILLIPS: Oh, we lost our satellite connection there to our guest. I apologize. We were talking about the book "Rage of the Random Actor," tying in to why this female in Belgium would become a suicide bomber. We were talking with Dan Korem. We'll try to reconnect with him via our satellite connection there and see if we can continue our conversation.

In the meantime, we want to talk about the polls in Egypt. It's been quite a deadly day, if you've been following the elections there. One person was killed as riot police battled voters in this third and final round of legislative elections.

Government officials say that today's death was the second fatality since the elections began last month. Earlier, officials downplayed that violence, saying that polling had unfolded in a peaceful manner. Well, in one village where police blocked entrances to a polling station, determined voters sneaked in by climbing over back walls.

Well, the backdrop to these election, U.S. pressure to implement democratic reforms. As a result, President Hosni Mubarak gave considerable leeway to the banned Muslim Brotherhood to campaign. CNN Cairo bureau chief Ben Wedeman joins us now to talk about this some more.

And Ben, I think that's what we have found so interesting, is that a lot of people criticizing the president for not putting more pressure on Saudi, Egypt, Syria, to crack down on terrorism and create more of a democratic government.

So now you've got these elections in Egypt. Mubarak saying, look, I'm being more democratic, but you're seeing the Muslim Brotherhood now gaining more seats.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN BUREAU CHIEF: Kyra, there really -- the Brotherhood has made impressive gains. They have now at this point five times more the number of seats in parliament than they had before. And what you see, really, is a massive protest vote against the government of Hosni Mubarak.

That's why the Muslim Brotherhood has done so well. It's very well organized. It has a fairly good reputation among Egyptians. But, really, it's a protest vote against the government that's been in power since 1981. But here we have a dilemma. The United States wants democracy, more democracy, in Egypt, but on the other hand, when they allow it, when it happens, you have the Muslim Brotherhood come in.

And what you're hearing increasingly here in Egypt, many people are saying that maybe Egypt is not ready for democracy. They'll point out -- and I'm talking about Egyptians -- they will point out that around 50 percent of the population is illiterate. Many people are uneducated. That maybe they're not making rationale votes when they go out and vote for the Muslim Brotherhood.

And, therefore, I've spoken to so many people here, the elite, many of them, who say that Egypt is just not ready for democracy. The United States has maybe pushed a little too hard, too fast and this is the result. The Muslim Brotherhood is making impressive gains -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: And Ben, what are the concerns? Because the Muslim Brotherhood had been banned. Now you're seeing this growth within the Brotherhood and now getting more seats, possibly, within the government. So how is that a concern to the United States and other countries with regard to the influence on Muslim extremism?

WEDEMAN: Well, you know, the Muslim Brotherhood is sort of the great-grandmother of the modern political Muslim Islamic movement in the Middle East. It has a huge influence. It's basically the group that inspired Hamas in the West Bank and Gaza, and many of the fundamentalist movements throughout the Middle East.

The Muslim Brotherhood is extremely opposed to the American -- American policy in the Middle East, to the American presence in the Middle East. They want to create, for instance, here in Egypt, an Islamic state. This is a huge problem in a country that, of course, for a decade now, has been a strategic ally of the United States. So if the Muslim Brotherhood continues this move toward more power, more influence, in parliament, there's a very good possibility that one of the pillars of the United States Middle East policy will be severely shaken. And that pillar, of course, is Egypt -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: We'll continue to follow the wrap-up of those elections with you. Ben Wedeman, live from Cairo. Thanks, Ben.

Straight ahead, have you ever driven past a construction site and wondered how easy it would be for someone to help themselves to everything that's stacked up outside? Well, a lot of people do more than wonder. A CNN investigation when LIVE FROM returns.

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PHILLIPS: Well, if you build it, they will come. Construction thieves, that is. It's a growing problem for builders and homeowners, and the new face of this crime wave will surprise you.

CNN's Randi Kaye reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This crew is really cleaning up at this construction site near Houston, Texas. But they're not a construction crew, they're construction thieves.

MARK STEPHENS, PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR: You see some crazy stuff.

KAYE: Houston private investigator Mark Stephens spends his nights huddled in the bushes or hiding behind binoculars in a car. He's built a business on the construction theft boom and has the tapes to prove it.

STEPHENS: Really is a nationwide epidemic.

KAYE: Stephens' tape library will make any homebuilder cringe. Appliances, furnishings, front-end loaders, plywood, there one minute, gone the next.

STEPHENS: I hid out in a house and watched them load 80 sheets of that plywood.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

STEPHENS: Eighty sheets, it took them less than two minutes.

KAYE: Stephens caught this guy stealing a tree, then chased him. First on foot, then by car.

STEPHENS: They took a 30-gallon oak tree, and you notice it was raining. They dug it out of the ground. They got landscaping materials and they're just dragging it down the street.

KAYE: When it was over, Stephens got the tree back. The man was never formally charged, but he was fired from his job as a salesman for a homebuilder.

(on camera): Some of these thieves will pay the price in the end, but guess what? So will you. The National Association of Homebuilders says construction theft costs the industry $4 billion a year. That adds about 1.5 percent to the cost of building a home, money right out of your pocket.

(voice-over): Michelle Ellisor's new home, outside Houston, was a target for construction thieves. Just before her family moved in, their dream home was hit, their air conditioner stolen.

MICHELLE ELLISOR, HOMEOWNER: Yes, we were like, really? Because they're so big and there's two of them. And so you're thinking, now how did they get that out and nobody seeing them?

KAYE: Like most construction theft cases, the thieves struck in the middle of the night. No lights, no witnesses, no chance of getting caught. The contractor replaced the $3,000 air conditioners at his own expense since the Ellisors hadn't moved in yet. But the experience still haunts the family.

ELLISOR: Now I'll always have thoughts of maybe someone is lurking around.

KAYE: Stealing air conditioners isn't cool, and Mark Stephens, a 19-year veteran of the Houston Police Department, doesn't like to see criminals get away. Watch this sting. Stephens set up night-vision cameras and baited a trap at this construction site with two shiny, new air conditioners. The bad guys bit the first night.

STEPHENS: He came through the vacant lot and he walked underneath the camera. The camera was set perfect. And here goes one air conditioner. And they go back for the second one and then they're gone. Took them what, 20 minutes, 15 minutes?

KAYE: Turns out they install air conditioners for a living. Stephens tracked down one of the thief's addresses and caught him on tape again, removing the stolen air conditioner from his own garage, preparing to install it at another home.

STEPHENS: They're selling it to, you know, families that, you know, have no idea that's stolen. But the they're charging full price. So, they're making a killing, you know. They're really making a killing.

KAYE: Stephens' videotape landed the guy in jail, charged with theft.

STEPHENS: Open up the back for me.

KAYE: And jail is also where this yuppie couple spent the night, after Stephens caught them driving their Range Rover, stealing sod.

STEPHENS: You know this is stealing, right?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. KAYE: The dentist and his wife had about $100 worth of grass in their SUV.

STEPHENS: You live in what, a $200,000 home, at least. And you're driving a Range Rover, but you're stealing grass? Why not just plant some more grass?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because we -- I know, there is no excuse. I just -- I've been playing with construction. I even talked to the Evergreen Houston (ph) today. I mean, I know, I'm sorry. It's wrong. I'm sorry. I just -- can we write a check to the trim maker?

KAYE: Not even a check could buy them out of this trouble. They pleaded guilty to theft and got probation. Now stealing sod may sound trivial, but the cost of construction theft add up. Georgia builder, Don Gale:

DON GALE, BUILDER: They broke into a house. They came in here about 10:00 o'clock at night, broke into a house and they stole cabinets, countertops, light fixtures, some heating and air parts. It was probably a $12,000 to $20,000 theft.

KAYE: And it's not just the cost of replacing what is stolen. Builders like Gale also have to repair the damage thieves cause when they break into the home and rip out what they want.

(on camera): How do you feel knowing that people are coming in and doing this? Do you feel violated? Are you angry?

GALE: It could take somebody a small as myself and put us out of business. It's difficult. You can't claim virtually every theft on insurance or you're going to become uninsurable.

KAYE (voice-over): Some builders have resorted to electronic surveillance at construction sites and fancy gadgets and expensive equipment like front-loaders to prevent thieves from starting them up.

But the fact is, more homes are being built everyday. That sounds like job security for construction crooks, unless of course, private investigator Mark Stephens is lurking nearby.

STEPHENS: The easiest way to catch a crook is to figure out where he's going and get there first, and that's what I do.

KAYE: Randi Kaye, CNN, Grayson, Georgia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well there are some things that you can do to protect your new home site. Ask to have appliances delivered in an unmarked truck, wait until the last possible moment to have appliances delivered, and have your builder store materials somewhere where they can't be seen from the road.

Straight ahead, those people who say I don't do windows, well, they may have a point. Up next, just another day cleaning skyscrapers until a gust of wind ruins everything. Oh. Details on this dramatic high-wire act when LIVE FROM returns.

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PHILLIPS: Well, the next time you have a rough day on the job, remember it could be a lot worse. You could be a window washer on a skyscraper, and the anchor on your scaffold could break, just as the winds just gusting up to 30 miles an hour. Check this out.

Two window washers in Denver took a wild ride, high above the city streets. The drama ended when firefighters were able to grab the scaffold through a 12-story window. How did it all go down?

Well, let's ask Carlos Garcia from the Denver Fire Department. He's one of the firefighters involved in that rescue. Carlos, tell us what happened when you got there, if you could make contact with the window washers, could you communicate, and how'd you get them out of there?

CARLOS GARCIA, DENVER FIRE DEPT.: When we first got there we looked up and saw the scaffold was pretty much secure to the floor, so we thought it was going to be a controlled rescue. But when we got to the 12th floor, it was just airborne, and about 20, 25 feet away from the building. And we just had to run and try to get into position where we thought it was going to come through. And once the scaffold hit, perpendicular to the building is when we were able to extricate the two men off the platform.

PHILLIPS: Unbelievable. How did you communicate with them? Were you trying to tell them to stay calm, and were they screaming for your help? I mean, what do you remember from what they were saying, what you were saying to them?

GARCIA: We really didn't have opportunity to communicate.

PHILLIPS: Yes, it happened so fast?

GARCIA: Yes it happened so fast, and they were too far away, and we couldn't actually talk through the glass until it was broke. But once we were able to get ahold of it, we knew that they wanted to get off, and they just ran down the scaffolding, and we assisted them so they wouldn't fall between the scaffolding and the building, and also they wouldn't get cut on the glass that was there.

PHILLIPS: Wow. Now how did you know -- it was -- let's see, the 12th-story window, that's where you grabbed the scaffold, right, was through the 12th story window?

GARCIA: Yes, that's correct.

PHILLIPS: Yes, was that a guessing game, like...

GARCIA: Well, actually, we had some officers from station one here and station eight. They actually counted the floors. Because we originally thought it was on the 27th floor. When we pulled up, we realized that it wasn't that high. So they kind of eyeballed it, tried to count floors, and luckily we went to that floor and were able to effect a rescue.

PHILLIPS: Now, have you -- is this something that you deal with on a regular basis, or was this one of those really unique calls where you thought, oh boy, this is going to be a challenge.

GARCIA: We do high-level rescues around town, but this one, I think it's once-in-a-career type incident where everything just came together and the teamwork of the crews that were there played a big part and came out with a good outcome so...

PHILLIPS: So you think...

GARCIA: We're all thankful everybody was there to help, you know, and just glad that they're OK.

PHILLIPS: Yes. And after seeing the video, it's pretty amazing.

Congratulations, Carlos. Great job.

Do you know if the guys are going to go back on the job?

GARCIA: I don't know. I doubt it.

PHILLIPS: I think I'd probably pick another career as well.

Carlos Garcia, Denver Fire Department, thanks so much.

GARCIA: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: Well, a political balancing act. Senator Hillary Clinton states her case on the U.S. role in Iraq. Why she criticizes the president's strategy, but still defends her vote to authorize the war. We're going to talk with our Bill Schneider about it.

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