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Suspected serial burglar arrested in Baker County

BAKER COUNTY, Fla. — A suspected serial burglar is behind bars. Deputies said the crook is believed to be involved in more than a dozen burglaries across the state.

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“He come with a trash can, bust the window, come with the trash can, load it up and out the door,” said Prijesh Patel, the owner of Quick and Handy.

“He was in the store for less than two minutes, got the cigarettes and left,” said Amit Patel, the owner of Baker Beverages.

Deputies with the Baker County Sheriff's Office said the same man was caught on surveillance cameras, breaking into three businesses in the last four months.

Patel said the crook took more than $7,000 in cigarettes from his store.

Surveillance pictures show the burglar always had a mask on, broke in using a sledgehammer and stuffed cigarettes into a trash can.

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Deputies thought they’d caught the man behind the three burglaries, but that was just the beginning.

As detectives continued to investigate, they learned there had been several other burglaries across Northeast Florida that were similar to the ones in Baker County.

After working with other agencies, they were able to identify the burglar as Tyrone Whitehead, 55, from Jacksonville

Detectives began to actively track Whitehead’s movement and had him under surveillance. The 55-year-old was arrested this week in Jacksonville.

Investigators believe he is involved in nearly a dozen other burglaries in at least eight other counties in our area.

“I’m glad they catch him,” Patel said.

“He’s caught. We can relax now,” Amit said.

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