Arrests Link Deltona Woman, Boyfriend to 14 Burglaries in 2-Mile Radius

Date Added: December 12, 2018 3:04 pm

Contact: Laura Williams,
Office of Public Affairs & Media Relations

ARRESTS LINK DELTONA WOMAN, BOYFRIEND TO 14 BURGLARIES
Break-ins Occurred Within 2-Mile Radius

Volusia County sheriff’s detectives have solved 14 home burglaries in Deltona with the arrest of a 21-year-old woman and her boyfriend.

Gabriella Soto (DOB 5/10/1997) of Trafalgar St., Deltona, was arrested Monday. She’s charged with 13 counts of burglary to a dwelling, one count of armed burglary, 12 counts of grand theft, one count of grand theft firearm, and one count of child neglect. More charges are likely.

Her boyfriend and the father of her child, Desmond J. Watson, 21, (DOB 12/27/1996) of Sanford was arrested Tuesday in Orange County for one burglary. He will be extradited to Volusia County where he will face charges in the other burglaries.

The burglaries occurred Nov. 1-14 with the same pattern: Each crime involved forced entry through a rear window or sliding glass door, on weekdays during work hours. Fifteen burglaries occurred during the two-week span within a 2.1-mile radius in Deltona. One burglary victim, at 806 Lily Ct., chose not to pursue charges.

Televisions, electronics, firearms, cash and jewelry were stolen from residences. Within two hours of the burglaries, the suspects drove to Orlando and pawned several items from multiple burglaries. Between physical evidence, surveillance video and a witness who observed one of the burglaries in progress, detectives were able to arrest Soto and secure a warrant for Watson, who has been arrested. The investigation showed that Soto and her boyfriend committed burglaries at the following locations:

•        Nov. 1,  755 Trafalgar St.: Items in disarray but nothing stolen.

•        Nov. 5, 1529 Dunlap Dr.: Xbox 1S game system, Xbox 1 controller, guitar, guitar case, Valcom bag.

•        Nov. 5, 1530 Gainesville Dr.; handgun, Spiderman piggy bank, two watches, 52-inch LG flat-screen TV, white Xbox 1S, Xbox 1 controller, Toshiba laptop and black bag, tools, 3 XBox video games, vodka, 2 passports, Social Security cards, marriage certificate, 2 backpacks, 3 checkbooks and a speaker.

•        Nov. 5, 1669 Weybridge St.; 55-inch Vizio TV, Vizio sound bar, Samsung tables S2, Asus Nexus 7 tablet.

•        Nov. 5, 1678 Brentlawn St.: two Samsung TVs, two Rokus, cash.

•        Nov. 6, 869 Rockhill St.; Xbox 1, 20 Xbox games, two iPads, gold necklace, safe containing paperwork.

•        Nov. 7, 861 Horizon St.: 55-inch TV missing.

•        Nov. 8, 842 Halstead St.: 55-inch flat-screen TV, Xbox 1, Xbox Controller, Xbox Games stolen.

•        Nov. 8, 1234 Wanda Lane: 55-inch 3D TV, Playstation 4, three remotes; safe missing.

•        Nov. 8, 1073 Coblestone Ave.:  Xbox 1S, green multi-cam Xbox 1 controller, white Xbox 1 controller, iPhone 6, Nixon wrist watch.

•        Nov. 8, 806 Lily Ct.: items in disarray, change stolen.

•        Nov. 9, 618 Nardello Dr.: 60-inch Vizio TV, Vizio sound bar, cash.

•        Nov. 14, 618 Nardello Dr.; safe containing watches, documents, a drone, gold necklaces, jewelry box, laptop.

•        Nov. 14, 1441 Covewood Ave.: Samsung tablet.

•        Nov. 14, 1029 Persian St.: 40-inch TV, cash, Samsung tablet. 

  

Volusia County sheriff’s deputies and detectives are continuing to work cases with a sense of urgency and relentless follow-up, and Sheriff Mike Chitwood praised the hard work that has led to an increase in the case clearance rate across Volusia County. “They’re keeping the heat up, identifying crime trends as they’re happening and exhausting every lead in every case, and we’re seeing the results of that today,” Chitwood said. “I can’t say enough good things about the work our people are doing to solve every case they can, even if they’ve got little or nothing to go on from the start.”

In Deltona, the Sheriff’s Office has cleared 36 percent of burglaries in 2018, up from 24 percent two years ago.

Countywide, the Sheriff’s Office has cleared 33 percent of burglary cases in 2018, up from 29 percent in 2017 and 24 percent in 2016. Overall, the agency’s clearance rate for Part 1 property crimes is 30 percent this year, up from 25 percent in 2016. The national average clearance rate for property crimes is about 18 percent.

These and other statistics on crime in Volusia County this year compared to previous years are available in the CompStat reports posted at http://www.volusiasheriff.org/resources/compstat.stml.

PREVIOUS NEWS RELEASE FROM NOV. 9, 2018, APPEARS BELOW:

Nov. 9, 2018

For immediate release

Contact: Andrew Gant, Office of Public Affairs & Media Relations

VCSO ASKING DELTONA RESIDENTS TO BE VIGILANT AMID SERIES OF DAYTIME BURGLARIES

The Volusia County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a series of daytime residential burglaries in Deltona, and detectives are asking residents to be vigilant, check that their security cameras are in working order and to report suspicious activity in their neighborhoods.

VCSO detectives are actively working 9 daytime burglaries of unoccupied homes this month in Deltona:

• Nov. 1, 700 block Tralfalgar Street, sometime between 6 a.m. and 4 p.m.
• Nov. 5, 1500 block Gainesville Drive, between 12:27 p.m. and 5:11 p.m.
• Nov. 5, 1600 block Weybridge Street, between 11:30 a.m. and 2 p.m.
• Nov. 5, 1600 block Brentlawn Street, between 10 a.m. and 2:01 p.m.
• Nov. 5, 1500 block Dunlap Drive, between 12 p.m. and 10:30 p.m.
• Nov. 6, 800 block Rockhill Street, between 5:15 a.m. and 2:44 p.m.
• Nov. 6, 1200 block Wanda Lane, between 1 p.m. and 1:45 p.m.
• Nov. 8, 1000 block Cobblestone Avenue, between 10 a.m. and 12:26 p.m.
• Nov. 8, 800 block Halstead Street, between 11 a.m. and 4:06 p.m.

Anyone with information about these cases is asked to contact the Sheriff’s Office District 4 Deltona headquarters at 386-860-7030 or Crime Stoppers at 888-277-TIPS or http://www.northeastflorida.crimestoppersweb.com.