A Fruitland Park teen was arrested on burglary charges for breaking into multiple residences with a juvenile cohort.
Officers positioned themselves at the front and back of a residence on West Miller Street for a burglary in progress around 11:45 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 28, according to an arrest report from the Fruitland Park Police Department. They heard glass breaking in the back, running over to see 18-year-old Patrick James Biggs coming out through a window.
He was detained immediately and admitted that there was one more person in the home. At the same time, a juvenile male, whose name is being withheld because he is a minor, came out through the same window, the report said.
One of the residents then explained that he installed two cameras outside his home due to multiple break-ins. One faced the driveway, and the other was on a tree by the front door. He had installed the latter that very morning and captured the two suspects on his property an hour later, the report said.
He could hear two male voices talking as they looked through the windows of the property and a camper that belonged to his friend. The resident found them in the home and tried to confront them before they jumped out the window with $2,974 in items. At that point, his wife had already called law enforcement, the report said.
When speaking to the owner of the camper, the officer learned that Biggs and his juvenile cohort broke in through the back window. They then took his Vizio TV and a Surface Pro laptop. There was a woman on the property who had been broken into, as well, but nothing was taken, the report said.
Biggs later advised that he went inside the residence because there was a “For Sale” sign posted. He wanted to return everything that was taken and offered to clean the property if the resident and his wife would drop the charges, the report said.
His juvenile cohort stated that Biggs told him the house was for sale, and he had come earlier that week. The juvenile thought they were going to chill when they saw the resident coming from the home. At that point, he and Biggs jumped out the window, the report said.
Biggs was arrested on charges of two counts of burglary to unoccupied dwelling causing damage greater than $1,000, burglary of unoccupied structure, two counts of petit theft and two counts of criminal mischief greater than $1,000. He was booked at the Lake County Jail.