Rash of Buglaries Solved
Mike GurspanViewed: 1954
Posted by: JSKeppy
Date: Feb 05 2010 4:37 PM
Walton County Sheriff’s Investigators have been burning the “midnight oil” tracking leads to what appears to be separate burglary-rings operating from the Beaches to the Central and Northend of the county. Over the last week, Sheriff’s Personnel have been making arrests and doing an inventory of the stolen items.
On Thursday (January 28th) at around three o’clock in the morning, an alert homeowner on Garden Bay Circle in Miramar Beach observed a person attempting to break into vehicles. A nearby Walton County Sheriff’s Deputy quickly arrested Payton Fitzgerald after he climbed over a home’s privacy fence. A few hours later, an accomplice, 22-year-old Dane Patrick Hanlon Kemper, was also arrested. The two men are persons of interest in a rash of vehicle break-ins’ that have plagued South Walton County over recent weeks.
This past Wednesday night (February 3rd) two Niceville men were caught by Walton County Sheriff’s Deputies in the act of burglarizing a home on Bayshore Drive in Miramar Beach. Once again, an alert neighbor noted that the men were behind a residence where the owners live out-of-state, and no one was supposed to be there. Brandon Corbitt and Christopher Sylvester were trying to remove a television from the home. They now face Burglary Charges.
Yesterday (February 4th), an on-going investigation into a key figure in the area crystal-methamphetamine trade resulted in thousands of dollars worth of stolen property. Sheriff’s Investigators found everything from stolen lawn equipment to electronic items including laptop computers at Billy Ray Blane’s home in the Valley View Community of Eastern Walton County. The Walton County Sheriff’s Office is in the process of notifying the burglary victims. It’s believed that the stolen property is from several residential break-ins’ over recent months. Investigators say the total value of the stolen items from this one residence will add up into the tens-of-thousands of dollars.
Walton County Sheriff Michael A. Adkinson, Jr. congratulated his Deputies and Investigators in putting in the long hours, and wearing down the shoe leather in tracking the burglary leads. Sheriff Adkinson says, “All their hard work has resulted in the arrests of a number of burglars preying upon honest, hard working residents here in Walton County”.
The Sheriff’s Office continues to track leads in the theft of several large screen televisions from both homes and business in South Walton County. In addition, we continue to look for suspects in the burglary of thousands of dollars worth of construction equipment from two rental companies along U.S. Highway 98.
If you have information, contact the Crimestoppers of Walton County on its toll free line at 1-866-718-TIPS (8477). One can also contact the Sheriff’s Office main number at 892-8186.
Attachments: (1). Walton County Sheriff’s Office Investigators process the vehicle of an auto-burglar in Miramar Beach.
(2, 3, 4). Stolen items found at Billy Blane’s residence
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