Ludmilla Lelis
of The Sentinel Staff
Published in The Orlando Sentinel on April 29, 2000
DAYTONA BEACH SHORES -- Investigators believe they have stopped a plague of burglaries in this beachside resort
town with the arrests of suspects in three separate crime rings.
City investigators announced 10 arrests Friday -- including that of an 81-year-old man said to be one of the ringleaders.
Police say the arrests solved at least 125 burglaries of the city's hotels and condominiums during the past two
years.
Detective Greg Howard of the city's public safety department, said the stolen booty, plus dozens of shopping sprees
on stolen credit cards, will easily tally into the millions of dollars.
Robbers targeted visitors at the motels and condos, especially during spring break, Black College Reunion and Bike
Week, the major special events of the Daytona Beach region, he said. The burglars struck just about every motel
and timeshare in the small beachside community.
"This was their profession," Howard said. "They did these robberies every day."
The suspects, mostly 18 to 20 years old, face dozens of charges of burglary, forgery, theft by employee and dealing
in stolen property. The oldest suspect is an 81-year-old Daytona Beach man who bought the younger robbers a cell
phone and kept them moving from hotel to hotel, Howard said.
All of the suspects are local and investigators are looking for at least three more people in these burglaries,
Howard said.
Daytona Beach Shores, with a population of less than 3,000, had 283 burglaries during the past two years, Howard
said. He suspects that the three crime rings were responsible for most of those burglaries. At this point, investigators
say the suspects were involved in 125 of the crimes.
"One suspect admitted to doing four robberies in one day," Howard said. "The suspects used their
stolen money to buy clothes, alcohol and drugs, and then they would go back to the motel the next day."
Three separate burglary rings operated in the city, but those involved apparently knew about each other, Howard
said. Each had different methods:
In one ring, young women worked as desk clerks at the hotels and timeshares, giving keys to accomplices when they
knew guests were out to dinner or on the beach, Howard said. This group concentrated on travelers checks, cash
and credit cards.
Another group of young women would walk through motel corridors, pushing on doors to check for open rooms and stealing
wallets and jewelry.
The third group involved middle-aged men who removed window air-conditioning units from first- and second-floor
rooms to gain entry. This group often stole TVs and stereos.
Officers got their first clues about the burglary ring by tracing some stolen travelers checks, on which some suspects
used their real names. Officers also nabbed two suspects trying to leave a condominium after a burglary.
Howard didn't have a final tally of how much cash and travelers checks had been stolen, but said a conservative
estimate approaches $1 million. Jewelry also was stolen, including a $25,000 watch, and the robbers spent thousands
more at local shopping centers using stolen credit cards.
The suspects include: Shawn D. Cavanaugh, 20, Holly Hill; Edward J. Dewitt, 41, Daytona Beach; Leonard Grodin,
81, Daytona Beach; Nicole Hickman, 19, Daytona Beach; Meriam Lechugga, 20, Daytona Beach; Heather Palmerie, 21,
Port Orange; Greg N. Smith, 18, Ormond Beach; Cynthia A. Smith, 38, Daytona Beach; Eric Valentine, 18, Holly Hill;
and Jamie Gilbert, 32, no hometown given.
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