Luck, persistence help in string of quick arrests

By BILL VARIAN

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 15, 2000

Deputy Robert Crosnoe decided to make Seven Rivers Community Hospital part of his regular patrol after thievesstruck there twice, taking nitrous oxide tanks from a fenced area.

It was on one of those patrols shortly after 4 a.m. Monday that he spied a partly opened gate that should have been padlocked. When he pulled up, he saw someone run out from behind the gate.

Crosnoe ran after the teenager, eventually catching him near Emerald Oaks Drive, and arresting him on charges of burglary for allegedly stealing two of the tanks, according to records and interviews.

It would be the fifth such arrest of a burglary suspect caught in the act by deputies on the Alpha Squad of the Citrus County Sheriff's Office during a month's span.

"It's a rare occurance to catch one," Sheriff Jeff Dawsy said during an interview this week. "But this is a wonderful accomplishment."

Charged with the burglary was Eric Scott Hoyer, 18, of Floral City. And he is not alone among arrested prowlers.

A little more than a week earlier, deputies collared a Hernando couple accused in a series of smash-and-grab thefts June 29. The suspects are Randy Allen Brumm, 21, and Kristy Carver, 21, according to the records and interviews.

Deputy Bill Wilkinson first responded to a pair of alarms at convenience stores shortly after 2 a.m., one on U.S. 41, the other on State Road 200. In both instances, windows were smashed and items were taken from inside.

Wilkinson noticed tire tracks from a car, three of normal size, one a little smaller, like a spare. Marion County authorities had seen such a car earlier, records and interviews indicated.

So Wilkinson got on the radio and told deputies to keep their eyes out for a car riding on a spare tire farther south on U.S. 41. Fifteen minutes later, deputies saw the car behind a Citgo gas station at U.S. 41 just north of East Louisiana Lane. Carver admitted participating in three commercial burglaries in which cigarettes were stolen.

On June 20, deputies responded to the Hernando Hideaway after a newspaper carrier noticed a broken plywood door. This time they brought Caezar, a dog, handled by Deputy Matt Paul.

Paul shouted three times for anyone inside to step outside, with no response. In went Caezar, who found Brett Eugene Hinkle, 44, of Inverness, crouched in the kitchen, according to records and interviews.

Paul noticed a knife nearby and ordered Hinkle to raise his hands. When he didn't Caezar clamped onto his shoulder and dragged him out of the kitchen.

Two days earlier, a deputy spotted Shannon Lon Schenck, 27, of Brooksville, getting into a car and leaving from near the Classic Ventures Inc. building on U.S. 41, where an alarm had previously sounded. Deputy Michael Junker chased after him, eventually catching him and finding computer equipment and other items inside the trunk. He, too, was charged with burglary.

Dawsy agreed that fortunate timing played a part in some of the arrests.

"There's luck in it," he said. "But there's also tenacity."

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