LTC 122-2010 Middle District Burglariesm ~I Al~!1~
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OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER
NO.LTC# 122-2o1a LETTER T~~~~~A~i11~~IbIN~
TO: Mayor Matti Herrera Bower and Members of the City Commission
FROM: Jorge M. Gonzalez, City Manager
DATE: April 26, 2010
SUBIECT: Middle District Burglaries
This Letter to the City Commission is to provide information on a series of burglaries that took place
during the fall of 2009. These burglaries were determined to have similar characteristics which were
as follows:
All of the burglaries appeared to involve forced entry through a rear window during daytime
hours;
• the targeted homes had no surrounding walls or bushes;
• the theft of property was not commonly associated with residential burglaries;
• a majority of the burglary victims were elderly and had some physical limitations.
The Criminal Investigation Unit's Property Crimes Detectives were able to develop a lead when finger
prints were discovered inside the residences which led to the positive identification of two subjects.
Detectives were able to link a total of nine (9) burglaries to the identified subjects. These subjects had
also committed crimes in our neighboring jurisdictions.
Once the subjects were identified, the burglary trend seemed to subside as the Detectives pursued
the subjects through the use of BOLO flyers, pawn shops and various investigative means. The
subjects had obviously learned they were being pursued by the detectives and had fled the area. Due
to the recovered evidence and investigation, the detectives were able to obtain warrants for both of
the subjects.
On April 4, 2010, Detectives were contacted by the State of Ohio Corrections Department who had
the subjects in custody. The Detectives were immediately dispatched to Ohio in an effort to interview
and acquire a sworn taped confession. One of the subjects was cooperative and did confess to the
crimes on Miami Beach, while implicating the other subject. The one subject stated, "Having grown up
in Miami Beach has made me very familiar with the Beach." Additionally, it was discovered that
property from two of the burglaries was found at a pawn shop in Miami. The interview yielded great
investigatory evidence which allowed detectives to add additional criminal charges to the subjects.
This investigation was a joint effort consisting of several detectives, which included Sgt. Bennett,
Detectives Pete Rodriguez (pawn shop), Elise Spina-Taylor, Marilyn Tepperberg, and Louis Alsina, as
well as Crime Scene Unit latent examiners, Phil Womack and Maria Ferrer. Due to their extraordinary
efforts and hard work, the subjects are now back in custody in South Florida for the charges
stemming from the Miami Beach investigations, and will be serving time for the nine burglaries
committed on Miami Beach.
JMG:CN:tr
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