INDIAN RIVER COUNTY, Fla. — Four people suspected of burglarizing vehicles in multiple counties were arrested early Tuesday in Indian River County.
Sebastian police and Indian River County Sheriff's Department received several calls overnight regarding car burglaries.
"We're connecting these cases. This is this group that's out here doing these burglaries, that are traveling around. We have ties here to five different counties. They're traveling around conducting burglaries, not just in and around Indian River County but other counties as well," said Indian River County Sheriff Eric Flowers. "We were able to put an end to four of the five people. They're over in our jail right now."
Deputies began looking for vehicles that were associated with the burglary suspects and identified one of them on the road at around 4 a.m.
Deputies attempted to conduct a traffic stop but the vehicle fled.
Sheriff Flowers said the deputies knew that guns had been involved in these burglaries and it was a dangerous situation so they made the decision to pursue the vehicle.
A school resource K-9 officer who was coming on duty heard the call on his radio and was able to successfully deploy "stop sticks" in front of the fleeing vehicle and punctured their tires.
The vehicle continued to flee with its tires disabled and the pursuit led to Fifth Street Southwest, a dead-end road.
The vehicle stopped at a canal and the suspects attempted to get out and run away.
The deputy chasing their vehicle was unable to stop before bumping the vehicle, sending it down into the canal.
Sean Aurthor Cody, Jayven Lee Jackson, Sheppard Green, and Meadow Janae Allsbury were arrested on scene.
"Since then we've learned there was a fifth subject that was involved in this that we're currently seeking warrants on," said Sheriff Flowers.
Deputies recovered three firearms that were stolen from unlocked vehicles in Indian River County, St. Lucie County, Martin County and Brevard County, as well as multiple wallets, cell phones, laptop computers, purses, bags and other property.
"Please lock your car doors. These aren't smash-and-grabs, these aren't cases where they're searching out for weapons specifically. They're pulling on every door handle and when they find an unlocked car, that's the one that they're going after. And unfortunately there's a lot of people that leave weapons in unlocked vehicles," Sheriff Flowers said.
The four people in custody are all residents of Indian River County. Three of them are adults and one is a juvenile.
Further investigation by detectives from Martin County Sheriff’s Office and Indian River County Sheriff’s Office were able to identify more than 30 potential victims. The agencies believe more victims will be identified as the investigation continues.
