Alert residents help end burglary spree

Newsboy photo/ Sharon Kerr TALLYING THE TAKE, Sheriff's Department Investigator Curtis Frame (left) and Lt. Paul Tomplait examine goods recovered from a recent rash of burglaries in the Lake Sam Rayburn area.

In what Jasper County sheriff's investigators are calling "the perfect union of citizens and police working together," a series of burglaries in the Lake Sam Rayburn area was solved last week, according to Lt. Paul Tomplait.

Six burglaries occurred in the Lakeland Addition in a 10-day period, Tomplait said.

"People were just fed up," Tomplait said, and added that there may have been more burglaries in camp houses where the owners are not residents and have not yet discovered and reported a loss.

One resident on Quida Street noticed a window had been tampered with, but the burglar did not go into the home that night. Figuring the burglar might be back, three residents with a shotgun set up in the woods to watch.

Sure enough, about 10:30 p.m. Thursday night, May 31, the burglar returned wearing camo clothes and carrying a flashlight; both the clothes and light were stolen on a previous burglary.

Residents held the alleged suspect, Daniel England, 22, at gunpoint until sheriff's deputies arrived.

As of Monday morning, England was still in custody at the county jail, arrested and held on a previous felony theft charge. He had not been arraigned for the burglaries yet.

Another resident located and reported most of the stolen goods in an abandoned house on Pamela Street and reported it to the sheriff's office.

Investigator Curtis Frame unlocked a room full of recovered evidence that included a television, VCR, stereo, ice chests, clothes and a gun.

"He was just making himself comfortable in this abandoned house," Frame said. "He had a mattress on the floor. He'd go out at night and take canned beans, clothes, cash. He was pretty busy."

Still missing are an all-terrain vehicle and a Browning "sweet 16" shotgun, Frame said. But other homeowners were relieved to know that sentimental items like an heirloom knife had been recovered and, as soon a documented as evidence, would be returned to the owners.

"We want citizen participation," Tomplait said, "as long as folks are not putting themselves in danger. In this case, we told people it was probably somebody staying in the area, and the people who know the homes just started watching and canvassing the neighborhood."

"The man who found the stolen goods was checking out all the houses and recognized his wife's stereo," Frame said.