Police say a man and two teenagers were arrested in Boca Raton after they traveled there to steal from several homes.
Tyler Reid, 20, was arrested last week on multiple charges, including burglary of an occupied dwelling, petit theft and possession of burglary tools. Two others -- a 17-year-old boy and a 17-year-old girl -- were also arrested. All three suspects were residents of Fort Lauderdale.
According to a Boca Raton police report, a resident on Havana Drive called 911 last Monday when she saw two thieves in her backyard. The thieves ran away when they noticed her looking at them; fleeing in a navy blue Ford Mustang with white stripes on the side, the report said.
Soon after, officers spotted a car matching the description in a nearby neighborhood. Police established a perimeter.
According to the report, the girl in the car got out and knocked on the door of a home on Prairie Rose Lane. When a man answered the door, she "asked if some random person" was there, and he told her that she had the wrong house.
Authorities say her actions matched common tactics that thieves use to test if anyone is home at a house.
Once the vehicle was on the move again, an officer was standing outside his car with stop sticks in the road. The Mustang accelerated and the officer had to run out of the way to avoid being struck.
Police eventually initiated a traffic stop and identified the driver as the 17-year-old boy. Police said the girl was sitting in the front passenger seat and Reid was sitting in the backseat.
Campbell wrote that he could see a pair of latex gloves in Reid's sweatshirt pocket and another pair in the girl's pocket. He also noticed a package on the seat next to Reid.
The mailing label on the package was the same address as the home where the burglary had just occurred.
According to the report, police also found a family's "vital records, identification cards, birth certificates, passports, blank checks, a diploma, deeds, bond notes, Social Security cards, etc." in the car.
Police later determined that the items were reported stolen during a Christmastime burglary in west Boca Raton.
During an interview with detectives, Reid admitted to the burglaries, saying it "was his idea to come to Boca Raton to steal packages."
The girl also told detectives that it was Reid's idea to drive to Boca Raton "to steal things."
However, the third suspect denied everything and said he had only traveled there "to see a girl."