Deputies arrest suspect in string of car burglaries
The thefts occurred in the FishHawk Ranch area. Today, the Sheriff's Office plans to show off stolen items it recovered.
By CORY SCHOUTEN
Published August 8, 2003
TAMPA - Sheriff's deputies arrested a suspect Thursday night in a string of 30 to 40 car burglaries in the FishHawk Ranch area of east Hillsborough County.
Deputies said they stopped William Newman Johnson for driving a stolen vehicle and found several stolen wallets - one from a burglary at FishHawk Ranch and another from the Lake St. Charles subdivision.
Johnson, 27, of 7701 Nundy Ave., Gibsonton, has been charged with grand theft auto, aggravated fleeing, no valid driver's license, possession of marijuana and paraphernalia and resisting arrest without violence, said sheriff's Sgt. Ira Arman.
Today, the Sheriff's Office plans to show off more than 40 stolen items it recovered, including electronic equipment, DVDs, credit cards and bicycles.
"In the big scheme of things, it's not a million-dollar heist or anything," Arman said. "But it impacted a lot of people in a section of town we were concerned about."
In recent weeks, east Hillsborough neighborhoods had been plagued by burglaries. On July 25 alone, six cars were broken into and a seventh was stolen from FishHawk Ranch's Eagle Ridge subdivision. Thursday night, deputies investigated four auto burglaries.
Hillsborough jail records show that Johnson has been arrested eight times in the past decade, most recently last May on marijuana possession charges. Prior charges include auto theft, burglary, armed burglary and firearm theft.
Booking records show Johnson has listed his occupation variously as a carpenter, a laborer and a pressure wash operator.
