ST. CLOUD – It’s not uncommon to see workers at a construction site loading up a trailer with large steel pipes.
It is unique, though, if the men doing the lifting are not construction workers at all.
It doesn’t help when the site has a “No Trespassing” sign out front, and the three men doing the work are all registered felons.
On the last day of 2011, Osceola County Sheriff’s deputies arrested registered felons Donald Brooms, Jason Albritton and Todd Peters and charged them with grand theft and trespassing.
Around 11 a.m. on Dec. 31, deputies got a call about suspicious activity at a construction site at 3050 Hickory Tree Road in St. Cloud. Deputies went to the scene and found Brooms, 50, of 4120 Tucker Ave. in St. Cloud; Albritton, 47, of 6070 Hickory Tree Road in St. Cloud; and Peters, 45, of 113 E. Ileen St. in Kissimmee, removing pipes from the site.
Deputies say the men were found loading a trailer with large steel pipes.
“The suspects told deputies they had permission from the property owner to remove the pipes and sell them at a local scrap yard,” noted Twis Lizasuain, public information officer for the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office, in her release on this case.
But she added, “Deputies contacted the property management company and they indicated no one had permission to be on the property, which had ‘No Trespassing’ signs posted.”
The three men were arrested and booked into the Osceola County Jail on New Year’s Eve.
Brooms’ criminal history is lengthy and includes a 15 year prison sentence out of Polk County for robbery with a gun/deadly weapon, and a five year sentence out of Osceola County for burglary, robbery with a deadly weapon, and trafficking in stolen property. Sentenced in 1995, he was released from prison in February 2008.
Albritton was released from prison in July 2006, after receiving a four year sentence for trafficking amphetamines in Osceola County in 2002, and a five year sentence in Marion County for obstructing a criminal investigation.
Osceola County Sheriff’s detectives are asking for the public’s help in solving a second case from Dec. 31, this one involving an armed robbery at a Walgreen’s in Kissimmee.
Around 8:50 that morning, deputies got a call about a robbery at the Walgreen’s Drugstore at 2900 Boggy Creek Road in Kissimmee. An employee told deputies that a masked man came into the store and demanded money at gunpoint.
“The employee hesitated to open to the cash register, so the suspect grabbed money on the counter which belonged to a customer,” Lizasuain noted. “The suspect fled the area with an undisclosed amount of money.”
The suspect was described as a white man with a medium build, a New York accent, about 5 feet 8 inches tall, and between 20 and 30 years old.
He was wearing a white shirt, blue jeans and a black shirt wrapped around his face.
Anyone with information on this case is being asked to call the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office at 407-348-2222 or Crimeline at 800-423-TIPS (8477). Calls made to Crimeline will remain anonymous, and tips that lead to the felony arrest or recovery of stolen goods will be eligible for cash rewards of up to $1,000.
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