Vehicle Burglaries

16-year-old linked to 121 car break-ins in 1 night released after 5 hours in custody

Police chief decries 'broken system.'

'He was released back into the community, back into the environment that allowed him to be out roaming the streets in all of these counties late at night and in the early morning.'

A Maryland police chief decried what he called a "broken system" after a 16-year-old male arrested in connection with 121 car break-ins in one night earlier this month was released after just five hours in custody.

Police in Laurel said the male and two other teens smashed car windows and stole items from 54 cars in Laurel and 67 more in Prince George's, Anne Arundel, and Howard Counties on the night of May 4, WRC-TV reported.

We have vehicle break-ins and vehicle theft right here in Lake Worth Beach. We never get a report from PBSO and it is happening nightly. A few weeks ago PBSO caught three in our community and he was charged with 38 felonies.

Two days ago we had a vehicle burglary here on Lake Osborne Drive.

Read about it...

Criminals caught at Lakeside Point Gardens

Car Thieves caught

LAKE WORTH BEACH, Fla. (CBS12) — An 18-year-old and two others were arrested after a series of car burglaries plagued a Lake Worth Beach community.

Ronaldo Gustavo Gabriel Ramirez was arrested for 38 counts of burglary of an unoccupied conveyance. The arrest followed a coordinated surveillance operation by the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office (PBSO) South Florida Task Force.

The arrest took place early Thursday morning at around 1 a.m., after authorities observed Ramirez and two accomplices engaging in a series of vehicle burglaries across multiple residential parking lots in Lake Worth Beach.

PBSO agents began surveillance on a 2016 silver Mercedes suspected of being involved in criminal activity. The vehicle was tracked to the parking lots of 2020 and 2021 Sunset Avenue, where Ramirez and one of the accomplices were seen getting out of the car and pulling on the door handles of vehicles in the parking lot. PBSO said another person remained in the vehicle, acting as a lookout and getaway driver.

According to the arrest report, the suspects moved through the area, targeting vehicles in the parking lots of Lake Osborne Drive buildings. They attempted to open doors on 38 vehicles, successfully entering three. The group was later apprehended at a Wawa convenience store on South Congress Avenue after agents conducted a takedown inside the business.