Police arrested a 22-year-old man and a 16-year-old boy after a string of vehicle burglaries hit more than 15 cars in Miami Springs.
Miami Springs police arrested 22-year-old Christopher Caceres and a 16-year-old boy after a car burglary spree that hit more than 15 vehicles early Wednesday morning. The suspects stole a Jeep, a Honda Accord and a firearm during the spree, and detectives later recovered six guns, including five from a separate Hialeah burglary, at one suspect's home. Both stolen vehicles were recovered and the pair were taken into custody roughly 16 hours after the burglaries began.
A string of car burglaries in Miami Springs overnight ended Wednesday afternoon with two arrests, two recovered stolen vehicles and six firearms seized from a Hialeah home, according to Miami Springs police.
Christopher Caceres, 22, and a 16-year-old boy face charges including burglary of an unoccupied conveyance, grand theft of a vehicle, criminal mischief, petty theft and theft of a firearm, according to arrest reports. Police say the spree began around 1 a.m. Wednesday when two males in hoodies entered the city through a catwalk near North Royal Poinciana Boulevard, then moved through streets including Raven, Plover, Quail, Albatross, Swallow, North Royal Poinciana and South Royal Poinciana.
Miami Springs police said more than 15 vehicles were broken into during the run, with a Jeep and a firearm also stolen. Arrest reports describe the episode as nearly 20 separate incidents of "car hopping," the practice of moving down a block trying door handles and rifling through unlocked vehicles. Caceres later told detectives he estimated they hit around 15 cars, saying he and the teen targeted vehicles they believed held cash or guns.
Among the vehicles hit was an unmarked Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office car, found with its rear driver's-side window shattered and a detective's bookbag missing, according to the reports. A stolen credit card taken from one of the burglarized vehicles was later used at a gas station, where surveillance video captured two males fueling up the stolen Jeep.
Detectives tracked the Jeep to West Hialeah, where it sat unoccupied for a stretch before investigators watched it for more than four hours. When two males climbed into the vehicle, Miami Springs detectives followed and, with help from the Hialeah Police Department's K-9 unit and the Florida Highway Patrol's Criminal Interdiction Unit, carried out a felony traffic stop. Both suspects were taken into custody around 3 p.m., about 16 hours after the burglaries began.
During questioning, the teen admitted the pair had also stolen a Honda Accord, which he said they crashed and abandoned in Hialeah, and said one of the burglaries netted a pistol, according to the arrest reports. Caceres told detectives he had been under the influence of Xanax, known on the street as "bars," during the spree, and admitted to stealing both the Jeep and the Accord. He also said the teen took part because he "wanted to have fun," the reports state.
After the interviews, detectives went to Caceres' home in Hialeah and recovered six firearms, including the gun stolen during the Miami Springs spree. The other five guns, police said, had been taken during a separate, unrelated burglary in Hialeah.
Both stolen vehicles were returned to their owners. One belonged to Lilly Garcia's husband, Louis, who had left the car unlocked with the keys inside. Garcia said the vehicle was found less than a mile away, but not before it was wrecked.
"Now we have to fix the car because we have to go to work," Garcia said. "It's not fair, it's not fair."
Garcia said a neighbor's car was also broken into during the spree and a toolbox was taken from the trunk.
"He went to the car and the car was messed up inside; they opened the trunk and realized they didn't have their toolbox," she said.
Miami Springs police used the arrests to renew a call for residents to lock their cars and remove valuables overnight. "A reminder to our residents: make locking your vehicle part of your nightly routine," the department wrote on social media, adding that firearms and other valuables should be properly secured.
Caceres was being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center as of Thursday afternoon, with his bond listed as "to be set" in online jail records. The 16-year-old was not publicly identified. No court date had been scheduled for either suspect as of Thursday.
