By Hillary Copsey, Sun Sentinel (Florida)
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. - A pit of pilfered reptiles turned up in a Jensen Beach pet store and helped police bust a teenage burglary ring that, in one month, stole more than $25,000 in cars and other items, investigators said.
Police nabbed three 15-year-old boys in Port St. Lucie on Wednesday, charging each with several counts of burglary and auto theft, according to Port St. Lucie detectives Leo Niemczyk and John Brazas.
A fourth boy, also 15, was expected to be arrested on similar charges by St. Lucie County sheriff’s deputies this week.
Brazas said the teens’ thievery began Dec. 4, when three of them broke into a Galt Circle home while the owner was out of town, found keys and stole a 1991 Chevy Lumina.
During the next two weeks, the teens snagged two other vehicles, a Mitsubishi Eclipse and a Ford Mustang. Both vehicles were taken with keys found in unoccupied homes.
On Dec. 12, city police were called to a seemingly unrelated burglary on Lookout Boulevard. Someone had ransacked the home and taken a $9,900 watch, eight turtles, six lizards and one chameleon.
But witnesses had seen a dark blue Mustang at the home, Niemczyk said. It was the first tip that the burglary and car thefts might be linked.
On Dec. 13, the same dark blue Mustang was found in Delray Beach.
The missing reptiles were then found at a Jensen Beach pet store, Niemczyk said. The store owner had the names of and a phone number for the two teens who had left the animals.
One confessed to the car thefts and the Lookout Boulevard burglary, as well as two other burglaries, Niemczyk said.