Man arrested on jewelry theft charges.
 

The Daily Sun 1/21/2012

The Villages-Information from an ex-girlfriend led Marion County detectives to arrest a Summerfield man on charges tied to three jewelry thefts in The Villages and another in Summerfield, according to Marion County Sherriff's Office officials.

Detectives arrested 30 year-old John Carrol Story at approximately 11:50 a.m. at a home in the 14600 block of SE 87th Court, according to arrest affidavits. He could face four sets of charges of burglary and grand theft, according to the affidavits, and his bond was set at $200,000.

According to arrest affidavits, detectives said Story was involved in a series of burglaries and thefts that took place between Oct. 1, 2011 and Jan. 14, in The Villages, Wildwood, Sumter County and Marion County. Lt.Scott Byrd, commander of the South Marion District of the Marion County Sheriff's Office, said the arrest was part of a combined effort with the Wildwood Sheriff's Office as well as Community Watch in The Villages. Byrd said additional charges are pending.

Altogether, he said, detectives believe, Story was involved in the theft of more than $50,000 worth of property, much of it jewelry.

"He was going into the house and he was targeting jewelry," Byrd said. "Jewelry is one of those things where you can grab it and carry i out the door. It's easy to conceal."

Byrd said investigators were led to Story by information given to them by Story's ex-girlfriend. According to the arrest affidavits, detectives were led to a man who identified himself as the driver of the getaway vehicle, who showed them where the thefts took place, provided descriptions of what they did, and told them the motives for the thefts were drugs and money.

After Story was arrested,he was taken to the South Marion District Office in The Villages where he was questioned, and denied any involvement with any of the four cases, the affidavits stated. Byrd said the department has been in touch with the residents who reported the thefts, to keep them updated in the case.

"We're talking to the victims and obviously they're very relieved," he said.

BYrd said the next step is to try to recover the stolen property. Even if it's not recovered , he said an arrest can bring about peace of mind.

"It gives them some closure, and it helps them sleep at night."

:BigApplause:

Now there's a bit of good news! Thanks for posting it, Gracie!

Bill :)

Thanks for letting us know.

Glad to hear an arrest has been made.

It will be interesting if they can uncover how he targeted his victims. Someone looking for jewelry and small valuables would be disappointed in my home and probably quite a few others. How did he know there was valuable jewelry readily accessible?

Theft
 

Thank you so very much - it helps us ALL!

You can see his mug shot by going to the link below and then clicking on the right scroll button about 4 times.

http://www.mugshotsocala.com/?sex=male

And to think all that information was in the Daily Sun. We have, in the past, told all the Sun bashers to just be patient.

what a fine collection of "characters." :ohdear:

How did Eileen Martin sneak in there ?

"Man arrested on jewelry theft charges"

"Never under estimate the power of a woman scorned" by anonymous.

Wow, thanks Gracie. You're our Star Reporter, for sure!

Yeah, I'm anxious for the full details about how he operated to come out, too.

Ocala Star Banner has article in paper. Ring of at least three people. The Marion County thefts totalled around $21,000 in items. Targeted homes that the garage was up and no vehicles inside. Assumed residents were not at home. This is exactly why I do not leave my garage open and I always lock the door coming into the house from garage even when it is closed.

Reason for thefts.....To support drug habit.

Here is the link to the Ocala story.
http://www.ocala.com/article/2012012...20129971?tc=cr


I have to wonder if "open garages" led to TV burglaries though. Advisor (one of the victims who posts on TOTV) stated that a metal bar was used to pry open his front door, and the other more recent theft that was discussed here involved forced entry through a slider. If the garage door is open, why break in through the front door or slider? Even if the door between the house and garage is locked, it seems it would be an easier and less obvious point of entry.

In any case, so glad they got the guys. And it turns out it didn’t have anything to do with targeting Villagers specifically or having “inside information” from neighbors or contractors as was theorized by a few posters.

It seems that the most popular assumption is that anyone who lives in The Villages has lots of money. Like one other poster on here, if they broke into my house, they would most likely leave a donation!:D

They may or may not have money, but I would guess that only about ten per cent are jewelry "owners" in the sense that they have enough good jewelry to entice thieves. My mind is going all over possiblities and I wonder if the common denominator was a cleaning woman who was the "ex" or not ex-girlfriend and they came to her and she gave him up.

I know. I am a frustrated crime story writer.

Just thinkin' is all.

Now, those are some handsome dudes. Right out of GQ magazine for sure!!! :laugh: :rolleyes:

:1rotfl: Thanks for the big laugh.

Invite them to the next singles gathering :laugh:

As a deterrent, hang a "poor box" outside your door. "All donations gratefully accepted." :)

The front door may actually be easier to break in to. I believe most garage home entry doors are metal due to code for fire protection.

What a great site. It could be the basis of a new reality show. Too bad biggest loser is already taken.

The boy looks like he washes his face with a disc grinder.

http://www.ocala.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/...s=0&logoypos=0

all the signs of addiction.

Thanks
 

This is good information on those of us that get lax. Also GatorFan- I was told to leave the Garage door down because you never know what might just wander in.

Scum Theif , a Snake or a Gator!

Lets see its Florida, Is it Shoot the thief, Remove the snake and love a Gator!

Herv

Imagine this "guy" in your home? Creeps me out. I don't want even his hands on my door handles never mind his dirty feet on my floor! Yuck!

I hear ya loud and clear....yikes! :eek: Pretty disgusting dude.

You can never fully trust what the newspapers say, but to answer a question as to what their MO was:

"That man, who has not been arrested as the investigation continues, told them the houses hit were the ones with garage doors left open and that if there were no vehicles in the garage, it was a sign no one was home and the place would be safe for burglarizing.

Be safe !!!!!!!!!

SORRY, That was Old news. OPPS.:sad:

NICE TO HAVE THE STAND YOUR GROUND LAW HERE IN FLORIDA:)

I am happy this person was caught along with his two co-horts.

I know I would feel safer knowing these type of people are behind bars.

Of course, I am happy that the criminals were caught - turned in by an ex-girlfriend.

I do have to wonder at the Villagers who would go away from their house with the garage door left open. When no vehicle was in the garage, garage door open, of course it would seem ripe for picking for criminal.

I am sure you all noticed that the 3 burgaries happened near the upper edges of The Villages. I believe a couple of the homes actually backed onto non-Villages land. They did not occur within the interior sections of The Villages.

That is one reason I think that the new sections (Brownwood area) that back right up to Wildwood are not going to be as safe as what we have become used to in The Villages.

This wasn't mentioned in the Sun article. Where did you hear or read it?

Gracie...the garage door open MO was described in the article in the Ocala newspaper. It was not mentioned in the Daily Sun article.

http://www.ocala.com/article/2012012...20129971?tc=cr

Thank you 07! I doubt if they were all left open, that just doesn't seem likely that someone would leave with their garage door up...possibly unlocked, but open??

I ask HOW did he know who had jewelry? He wouldn't have gotten much but costume jewelry at our house and we can't be that much different than a lot of people. Some people are big into jewelry and some are not. How did he know WHO had it? I keep going back to that question.

AND the eternal question. Why do people start taking drugs to begin with?

Sometimes an injury requires someone take pain killers, Gracie. Most pain killers are narcotics and are very addictive. It isn't really black and white. Oxycontin is a very good example of a pain killer gone wrong, IMHO. I've interviewed many recovering addicts and addicts. Every single one has a different story. The only common denominator I've seen in their stories is that is wrecks families and lives.

We recently have had a "house cleaning" of students bringing prescription drugs to school for distribution and personal use. Throughout the investigation, one fact kept emerging: drugs were taken from elderly individuals. Some of the group even mentioned that The Villages was a "gold mine" for such drugs. With the desperation with this economy and rampant drug use just outside your gates, I highly recommend that all show due diligence in keeping your homes secure.

These kind of criminals are all over the place. My better half works as an optician here in TV and several times a year comments to me about people coming in and stealing eyeglass frames off of their displays,...sometimes they will even have an extra person with them to distract the employess while they pocket the merchandise,....she caught one of them not long ago with the assistance of the police.:boxing2:

...

HAHAHA! Thank goodness, no. But we ARE a middle school. 12-15 year olds caught with Zanax, Oxycodone, ect. It used to be a problem having ibuprofen and midol!

In the process of selling my condo, the real estate agents advised me to put all drugs, (medications), away so that it would minimized the risk of someone taking them during a showing. He claimed they could distract him as he is one person and a couple might use one person talking to him while the other was looking around.

If one has children/grandchildren, I would tend to think they would be better kept in a safe place and locked-up to minimize the risk of getting hurt.

Just sayin..........

Is this Wildwood middle school?

Open House!
 

My Juniors and Seniors were caught grinding up the Oxy and snorting it up their nose before and during class.

Kids say the best place to get drugs is at " Open Houses" They have "Adults" go in for them and while looking over the home go thrrough drawers and medicine cabinets.

Drugs are rampant in all grade levels. The general population of tax payers have no idea how bad.

And some liberal administrations will not let the troopers in with Dogs for spot checks of lockers.

So you have the right to deal drugs. Then when caught they are removed from school however the taxpayer pays to have the student home tutored for the time of the suspension.

Teachers are helpless to search accuse or suspect for fear of legal attacks.

See a Adult wandering the village in a daze. It's most likely a public teacher retired and trying to acclimate back into a friendly environment.