Pair brought child to burglaries in bid to look less suspicious, deputies say
Call this one a case of “out of the mouths of babes.”
An 8-year-old girl who was with Constance Sharell LaToya Jorden and Deon Terrelle Thomas told Broward sheriff’s investigators that “they crack windows and steal women’s purses,” according to Deputy Richard E. Mosca’s arrest reports.
Jorden told detectives they brought the child with them to appear less suspicious to passersby, according to the sheriff’s office.
The Sun Sentinel is not identifying the minor child’s relationship to the grown-ups. On a tip from Delray Beach police about suspected burglaries in three counties that were linked to a 2008 blue Chevrolet Malibu, detectives with the sheriff’s burglary apprehension team followed the car in Fort Lauderdale. It was seen near a home on the 2700 block of Northeast 21st Street on June 11 and June 15. That home’s tenant reported a burglary and theft of two flat-screen televisions on the latter date.
The Chevrolet was seen June 20 at about 1 p.m. on the 100 block of Briny Avenue in Pompano Beach, where the window of a silver Toyota was broken with a glass punch tool. Stolen was a green bag that held an iPhone, credit card and military ID, Mosca wrote.
The car drove about a mile north to Northeast 16th Street and A1A, where it backed into the detectives’ undercover car. The child was told to toss the green bag into a trash can, according to the sheriff’s office.
Jorden, 31, of Fort Lauderdale, was held in a Broward County jail Monday in lieu of $8,500 bond on suspicion of unarmed burglary of an unoccupied car; grand theft greater than $300 and less than $5,000 and causing a child to become delinquent, dependent or in need of services.
Thomas, 37, also of Fort Lauderdale, was given a $41,000 bond and charged with unarmed burglary of a car; unarmed burglary of an unoccupied building and grand theft greater than $300 and less than $5,000.
Thomas was accused by sheriff’s investigators of trying to sell two flat-screen televisions but getting turned down by a pawn shop because he did not have the remote controls, Mosca’s report said.
Broward Judge John “Jay” Hurley ordered the appointment of a guardian ad litem for the child.
Ltrischitta@Tribpub.com, 954-356-4233 or Twitter @LindaTrischitta.