TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Man Accused Of 2-Day Crime Spree

ADVERTISEMENT

By LISA A. DAVIS, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 12, 2008

NEW PORT RICHEY - A 26-year-old man who told deputies he was on a two-day "ice" binge and hadn't slept was arrested Sunday evening after an apparent crime spree, according to sheriff's office reports.

Jeffery Kreidler, 27, now faces one count of grand theft; two counts of grand theft auto; two counts of burglary; and one count each of auto burglary, resisting arrest without violence and fugitive from justice, the latter stemming from an Alabama case.

The local trouble started when Kreidler and an unidentified person were hired to deliver groceries to Miami for Wesley Chapel business owner Charles Corry, authorities say.

By Friday night, the pair had abandoned a rental van in the Hess parking lot at State Road 52 and U.S. 41 after delivering some of the goods in South Florida, a report states. The money from the transactions, however, was gone.

On Saturday, a Pasco County sheriff's deputy discovered a stolen Jeep Cherokee at Lakeview and Indian Mound drives in the Golden Acres subdivision west of Moon Lake. Until he was notified, Corry didn't realize the Jeep had been taken, sometime between Saturday and Sunday. Some of his credit cards also were stolen.

On Sunday afternoon, a Golden Acres resident reported that a stranger tried to break into his home on Lakeview. Paul Womble heard a loud bang, jumped from his chair and saw a man standing outside his door and a stained glass window smashed, according to a report. When Womble yelled, the suspect ran down the street.

Womble, 72, followed the man within the subdivision, hid behind azalea bushes on the north side of Wood Duck Drive and, according to a report, watched as the suspect tried to break into a garage. Womble told deputies he asked a resident nearby to call 911.

Shortly after, another Golden Acres resident reported that someone broke into a Jeep, rummaged through it and then removed a bucket and three screwdrivers, a report states.

A deputy pulled up and spotted Kreidler trying to start that Jeep, a report states. When the suspect fled, dropping all three screwdrivers, a deputy chased him into the woods. Kreidler was caught later with the help of a police dog.

Pasco deputies learned Kreidler was accused of violating probation in a larceny case in Alabama.

Because Kreidler, who's listed as homeless in reports, told deputies he had been using methamphetamines, he was checked out at a hospital before being booked into jail. He was being held without bail at the Land O' Lakes lockup Monday.

Reporter Lisa A. Davis can be reached at (727) 815-1085 or ldavis@tampatrib.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT