UPDATED 04/10/17 Suspect Arrested In Car Breaks At Gemini Springs

Date Added: April 10, 2017 4:15 pm

Gary Davidson
Public Information Officer

Update: 04/10/17 - 4:14 p.m.

The investigation continues, but Dianne Garrett was taken into custody again Thursday on International Drive in Orlando with the assistance of the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.

Garrett, who was previously arrested in Broward County on April 1, is now facing additional charges related to two more vehicle burglaries at Gemini Springs State Park. She had bailed out of jail in Broward prior to Thursday’s arrest in Orlando.

Garrett’s latest charges are two counts of fraudulent use of personal identification information in connection to a pair of March 23 break-ins. Detectives obtained surveillance video of Garrett cashing stolen checks at banks in South Lakeland and Auburndale. Each time, she wore a blonde wig in order to resemble the victim’s ID photo.

In connection to Thursday’s arrest, detectives executing a search warrant in an Orlando hotel room recovered about 30 wigs (apparently including one Garrett was wearing in a bank photo released by our office), 10 high-end purses with wallets and IDs believed to be stolen from the Orange County area, more than 20 other IDs and checkbooks and several bank receipts.

Additional charges are pending further investigation. Garrett’s latest fraud charges carry a combined $10,000 bond. She’s being held without bond at the Orange County Jail on an additional charge of violation of probation.

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Update  - 04/02/17 - 1:41 p.m.

With this weekend’s arrest of the woman captured by surveillance cameras making fraudulent bank transactions using property stolen out of vehicles at a DeBary park, Volusia County Sheriff’s detectives are now hard at work trying to identify her accomplices and determine what other crimes they were involved in.

Sheriff’s detectives identified the mystery woman captured in surveillance images as 31-year-old Dianne Garrett of Orlando. Garrett has been positively linked to the break-in of two vehicles that were burglarized at Gemini Springs Park on March 18. And she’s believed to be connected to others as well. She’s accused of cashing several checks stolen from one of the victims and trying to pass herself off at a bank as the other victim by using her stolen identification cards. During the course of the investigation, detectives located numerous pictures of the suspect attempting to make fraudulent transactions at banks across Central Florida. In most cases, she appeared to be wearing a wig and attempted to change her appearance. On Friday, detectives obtained an arrest warrant charging Garrett (DOB: 5/18/85) with three counts of fraudulent use of personal identification information and one count of uttering a forgery. She was arrested Saturday night in Broward County and was being held on $20,000 bond on the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office’s warrant.

Detectives haven’t determined yet whether Garrett was the one who actually broke into the vehicles. But they believe she was working with others and that the group was responsible for additional crimes in the area. The investigation is continuing and additional charges are pending against Garrett, who has a prior criminal history related to fraud charges in Florida, Kansas and Oklahoma.

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HELP SOUGHT IN IDENTIFYING SUSPECT BREAKING INTO CARS AT PARK

Volusia County Sheriff’s detectives investigating a rash of vehicle break-ins at Gemini Springs Park in DeBary have a big break in the case -- pictures of a suspect. Now they just need to figure out the identity of the woman seen in the pictures cashing checks stolen from the victims. And they’re hoping the public will be able to help identify her.

Four vehicles at the park were broken into during a recent six-day span beginning on March 18. And all of the victims’ stories were the same. In all cases, the victims were women who came to the park to walk the trails. When they returned to their vehicles, usually 30-45 minutes later, a window was smashed and purses, money, perfume, makeup, a cell phone -- and in one case, a handgun -- were stolen. For at least three victims, someone later used their identification to try to cash their stolen checks. Detectives have multiple surveillance pictures from different banks around the state showing the same suspect cashing the checks. In some cases, the suspect was successful. In other cases, the banks realized something was wrong and refused to cash the checks.

Anyone who recognizes the suspect or has information about the burglaries is asked to contact the Sheriff’s Office or Crime Stoppers of Northeast Florida, toll-free, at (888) 277-TIPS. Information also can be submitted by downloading the smartphone app from the Crime Stoppers web site (http://www.westopcrime.com/). Callers to Crime Stoppers will remain anonymous and can qualify for a reward of up to $5,000.