Two Texans who stole more than $18,000 in graphing calculators from eight east and south metro Target stores in one day last month are part of a ring out of the Dallas area that has rung up more than $250,000 in thefts of various goods, according to charges.

Zachary C. Fininen, 23, and Antonio Griffin Jr., 30, both of Dallas, were charged in Washington County District Court in connection with an alleged theft spree that hit two Targets each in Woodbury and in Apple Valley, and others in Burnsville, Eagan, Lakeville and West St. Paul.

Fininen and Griffin were arrested Feb. 21, the day of the thefts, charged with organized retail theft and have left jail after each posted a $30,000 bond. Fininen is due in court March 14, and Griffin has a hearing scheduled for April 10. Court records do not list an attorney for either man.

A Target field investigator told police that Fininen and Griffin were part of a larger conspiracy in the Dallas area that is responsible for more than $250,000 worth of stolen merchandise.

According to the criminal complaints:

Police responded to the Target on Commerce Drive in Woodbury about a theft in progress. A security employee told the officers that two men, later identified as Fininen and Griffin, took calculators, put them in a cooler and left the store without paying.

The officers soon spotted the men pushing the cooler in a cart. They abandoned the cart and started running through the parking lot. An off-duty state trooper arrested Fininen, while officers captured Griffin at a Sam's Club nearby. Their haul totaled more than $5,500 in calculators.

In total, the men stole calculators worth nearly $18,500 from the eight Target stores in Washington and Dakota counties.