Local detectives solve burglaries using intelligent leads

Northwest District Commander Brian C. Lee reported to Historic City News that Sergeant Robert Dean joined Detectives Samantha English and Andy Stoinoff in serving an arrest warrant on 42-year-old Steven Roberts — the man investigators say is responsible for several residential burglaries in St Johns County.

Today’s arrest occurred in Duval County, in cooperation with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office. The manner in which Roberts is said to have burglarized a Duval County home matched intelligence gathered in three recent St Johns County burglaries.

“Detectives English and Stoinoff networked with JSO and quickly determined a pattern of similarities between their burglar and ours,” Lee told Historic City News this evening.

In the Duval County case, the burglars fled in a black mustang with a very distinctive University of Florida tag and a skull tag on the front of the vehicle. A potential second burglar has been identified, according to Lee.

“For the last week, we have maintained covert surveillance on Roberts. One of the witnesses identified Roberts from a photo lineup,” Lee reported. “A search of the residence was conducted at the time of his arrest, and several items from the St Johns county cases were recovered and returned to their rightful owners.”