NORTHEAST MIAMI-DADE, FLA. (WSVN) - Police have arrested a teen accused of breaking into a home in Northeast Miami-Dade and stealing thousands of dollars in property.
Miami-Dade Police arrested 16-year-old Frederick Fitzmorris Simon, Tuesday, charging him with grand theft, armed burglary and possession of a firearm by a minor.
The teen is accused of using a rock to smash through the window of Noel Johnson’s home.
“You’ve got to be pretty bold to do something like that,” Johnson said. “I got good neighbors, and they’re usually pretty watchful of random cars parked, but these guys just pulled up, parked and I don’t know if they’d been watching the house or otherwise, but they were able to get in.”
According to investigators, Johnson’s house was broken into in the middle of the morning on Tuesday. Johnson was at work at the time.
Surveillance shows someone who appears to be Simon pulling up to the home in a Mini Cooper, walking up to the camera and covering it.
Johnson said the suspect stole a gun and thousands of dollars in jewelry.
“Three watches, a ring, so a lot of money worth of jewelry,” Johnson said. “We had an engagement ring, we had watches that — one of them was a graduation gift from my father, another one was a gift for my other graduation from my mother, so they were sentimental as well as expensive.”
Officers were able to retrieve Johnson’s stolen items. “I’m always grateful for the police when they’re able to do a great job like this,” Johnson said.
Johnson also said, if he were home, the incident could have turned out differently. “Florida’s Stand Your Ground — I don’t know who this guy is, you break my window, come in my house, first thing I’m gonna do is protect myself and my family,” he said. “Here we are coming up on Christmas, just after Thanksgiving, everybody should be celebrating family and caring about each other. He decided he just wanted to take the easy way out and commit a crime and fortunately, police were skilled enough to catch him.”
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