Eustis Police have arrested nine persons in connection with a string of burglaries of local residences, vehicles and businesses in Lake County during the July through December 2010 period. Police said the burglaries involved the thefts of firearms, electronics, jewelry and family keepsakes.
The persons arrested and charged to date are:
- Damien Vanalst
- Outhman Khargie
- Jordan Mays
- Sedale Green
- Juan Smith
- Chad Black
- Michael Bowser-Jones
- Paul Ferguson
- Christopher Crosby
Police said evidence was developed indicating the burglaries had been committed by the same suspect or suspects. The Eustis Police Department’s Uniform Patrol Division, Special Enforcement Unit, and Criminal Investigations Division began working together to follow-up on several investigative leads in an attempt to identify the individual or individuals responsible for these burglaries.
The combined efforts of these various units led Eustis Police Department to connect the nine suspects to the burglaries of at least 12 businesses and at least 8 residences. The businesses burglarized were: Arby’s and Wendy’s restaurants, the Eustis Moose Lodge, Jeffrey Paul’s Chop House, Sunoco Gas Station, The Smoke Shop, Mobile Gas Station, Eustis High School Baseball Club House and others. Some of the burglaries committed by this group of suspects were committed within the City of Tavares, as well as several unincorporated areas of Lake County.
Eustis Detectives have been working closely with detectives from the Tavares Police Department and Lake County Sheriff’s Office in an effort to identify all of the suspects involved in these burglaries and to recover the stolen property, some of which has been located and recovered.
Investigators said that currently, at least 22 cases have been closed by arrests in the Cities of Eustis and Tavares and in the Grand Island area of Lake County.
Additional charges are pending in relation to defrauding a pawn broker, grand theft and burglary, on some of the above-named suspect.
The investigation is ongoing and investigators said additional suspects are currently being investigated as to their activity and participation in these and other crime.
