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Burglary Victims View Stolen Items

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By GEORGE WILKENS, The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 9, 2007

TAMPA - Those who shopped Saturday at the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office were looking for very specific items - their own.

Thirty burglary victims showed up at the sheriff's District II office to examine everything from power tools, car stereos and televisions to Civil War knives and coins.

Most left disappointed, but seven reclaimed their goods, booty from a yearlong sting operation by sheriff's gang enforcement section officers posing as operators of DAG's Electronics on U.S. 92 in Seffner. The acronym stood for "deputies against guns," and firearms were among the property reunited Saturday with their rightful owners.

"I'm just glad to get it back," Charles Dennis Carlton said of his property, which included a half-dozen rifles and a shotgun. The guns had to remain with authorities for now, but he left Saturday's viewing with his laptop computer, also taken in the daylight burglary of his home near Dover.

The noontime break-in occurred during a 90-minute period, and Carlton presumes the house was targeted after someone saw his sister leave for a luncheon appointment. A DVD player and video camera recovered by authorities were returned to Carlton previously, he said. "So I knew there was some hope" of getting the guns back.

Carlton called it a "good early Christmas present," though authorities must hold the guns until the burglary case winds its way through the courts.

Others, such as Robert and Deborah Hernandez, left empty-handed. The Carrollwood couple's house was ransacked and burglarized in October 2006, a $37,000 loss.

"Who thinks somebody is going to pick up a 250-pound safe?" Deborah said. A neighbor reported seeing three men lug it to a red Dodge Ram pickup. None of the couple's guns, coins or jewelry was among the stolen loot on display Saturday.

Stephanie and Shayne Jean-Baptiste of Seffner suffered a smaller loss, but were equally unsuccessful finding their property.

"My husband left it in the car," Stephanie said, holding up a box that once contained her Sony Cyber-shot digital camera. Hoping they would find it, she kept the box, which bears a picture of the camera stolen a year ago.

The first person through the door at 4:05 p.m. Saturday was positively identified as the registered owner of a recovered Kyocera cell phone used by his daughter. "Someone took it out of my car six months ago," said the man, who did not want his name published. "You made my daughter real happy," he told officers. "Well, we have our first happy customer," Cpl. Kyle Robinson said.

Victims of burglaries during the year preceding the Oct. 31 termination of the sting can still contact the sheriff's office, provide their case number and arrange to view recovered items matching a description of their stolen property.

"We're still getting calls every day," Robinson said.

In addition to providing a description, those seeking property had to provide a police report of the theft and numbers or other documentation proving ownership.

Stolen property worth $1.8 million was recovered during the sting operation, including 214 guns, bought from the 203 people who came through DAG's doors.

Recovered property that remains unclaimed eventually is sold at public auction.

Reporter George Wilkens can be reached at (813) 865-4847 or gwilkens@tampatrib.com.

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