Sarasota News Leader

09/28/12

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Sarasota News Leader September 28, 2012 Deputies contacted Walmart Loss Prevention, which provided the transaction receipt and video of the suspects purchasing an iPad with the stolen card with the stolen card, ac- cording to the report. The iPad was valued at $599, the report said. When the suspects returned to the store a short time later and tried to purchase a com- puter, the report said, they left the store be- fore deputies arrived. However, store personnel were able to pro- vide the deputies with the suspects' vehicle description, tag number and direction of trav- el. Deputies located and stopped the vehicle, the report said, but not before seeing one of the men throw items out of the passenger side window. Deputies recovered some of the allegedly sto- len items as well as the items purchased with the victim's credit card and took the suspects into custody, the report said. Among the items in the vehicle were several bags of new clothing, new merchandise from Best Buy valued at about $2,000 and two iP- ads, one of which was linked to the transac- tion at Walmart, the report said. Curbelo and Sanchez both were charged with Burglary of a Vehicle, Grand Theft and Fraud- ulent Use of a Credit Card. Sanchez also was charged with Tampering with Evidence, and Curbelo, who is on federal probation, also was charged with Fleeing to Elude and Driving with a Suspended License. Page 61 Additionally, the Sheriff's Office reported that three vehicle burglaries occurred at Siesta Key Beach on Tuesday. Detectives are trying to determine whether Sanchez and Curbelo are connected to those or other previous cas- es that have been reported recently, a news release said. Detectives are also trying to determine the origin of a number of high-end electronics items that were recovered from the suspects' vehicle. The investigation is ongoing, the news release said. In August, Sgt. Scott Osborne, leader of the Sheriff's Office's Community Policing Station in Siesta Village, reported to both the Siesta Key Association and the Siesta Key Village Association that detectives unsuccessfully had tried a sting operation to catch the per- petrators in a number of thefts reported from vehicles, especially Chevrolet Impalas. That particular vehicle is a popular rental model, Osborne said, and the perpetrators seemed to have developed a system for gaining easy entry to the cars. Different people had been caught on video surveillance at area stores, using credit cards reported stolen from the vehicles, he said during those meetings, but detectives had been unable to gather enough evidence to make an arrest. facebook.com/SarasotaNewsLeader

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