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Boat Thief Foiled By Monitoring Device, Police Say

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By VALERIE KALFRIN, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 10, 2008

TAMPA - A man who tried a "he went that way" maneuver with police late Tuesday found it had 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, 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 a waterway, a preliminary report states.

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 Officer Jerome Graham 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's license, police said. Graham 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 that 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. He was being held without bail Wednesday at Orient Road Jail because he was in violation of his felony probation, jail records said.
Gilley has been on electronic monitoring because of a felony grand theft charge, jail records state.
Torelli was being held Wednesday at Orient Road Jail, with bail set at $10,500, records show.

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

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