On the heels of a burglary spree, a Gainesville teenager was caught Friday driving one of the cars he broke into, Gainesville Police said.
Eighteen-year-old Jamal Melvanta Reaves is accused of breaking into 14 vehicles between Monday and Wednesday — and stealing miscellaneous items from eight of them, according to a police report. All the cars were parked within a half-mile radius.
Reaves stole items such as CDs, cash, iPods, a wallet, a vehicle title and registration, a DVD player, reading glasses and sunglasses, according to the report.
But Wednesday morning, between midnight and 9:45 a.m., Reaves upped the ante, stealing the spare keys from one vehicle to drive off in another from the same home in the 4000 block of Alpine Drive, according to the report.
Police found Reaves Friday driving a reportedly stolen car.
After his arrest, Reaves acted disinterested when talking to police, according to the report. He pretended to fall asleep multiple times and said he didn’t know the car was stolen.
Under a couch in Reaves’ home, in the 2000 block of NW 55th Blvd., police found a bag that was reported stolen from one of the first cars, according to the report. The bag had around $20 cash in it when it was stolen.
Police arrested Reaves on charges of burglary to an unoccupied conveyance, petit theft, grand theft and grand theft of an automobile. Authorities took him to the Alachua County Jail where he was released on his own recognizance Sunday.
@merylkornfield
mkornfield@alligator.org
