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Ankle Device Foils Boat Burglar's Plan, Police Say

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By VALERIE KALFRIN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 9, 2008

TAMPA - A man who tried a "he went that way" maneuver with police late Tuesday found it backfired when officers placed him at the scene of a burglary through an electronic monitoring device on his ankle, police said.

Tampa police first encountered Mickey Allen Gilley, 19, of Tampa at about 10:14 p.m. after a resident in the 800 block of East Alicia Avenue reported three suspicious men on a boat dock across the waterway, a preliminary report states.

Mickey Allen Gilley and John Paul Torelli

Officers found a personal watercraft worth $3,500 and a canoe worth $650 nearby. They also found the battery compartment open on a 26-foot Edgewater boat valued at about $60,000, a report states.

Gilley, who was in the area, flagged down one of the officers and pointed out a 1980 blue Chevrolet Caprice driving away, saying the burglars were inside, police said.

The driver, John Paul Torelli, 20, of Temple Terrace, had no valid driver license, police said. Officers arrested Torelli on that charge and burglary charges after finding two disposable cameras, gloves and other property from the boat inside the car, a report states.

Meanwhile, Officer Charles Trigo noticed Gilley was wearing an electronic monitoring device on his ankle. Trigo called the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office to run a trace on Gilley's whereabouts using the monitoring device and learned he had been on the boat slip where the burglary occurred, a report states.

Police charged Gilley with felony burglary and felony grand theft, a report states. He was held without bail at Orient Road Jail today because he is in violation of his felony probation, jail records show.

Gilley has been on electronic monitoring because of a felony grand theft charge, jail records state.

Torelli was held on $10,500 bail at Orient Road Jail today, records show.

Reporter Valerie Kalfrin can be reached at (813) 259-7800 or vkalfrin@tampatrib.com.

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