FLORIDA STOLEN COMPUTERS FOUND DESTROYED WCJB - TV20 News - Your Home Team - Gainesville - Lake City - Ocala Police Discover Stash of Stolen Items
1/4/2006 By Heather Sorentrue
WCJB TV20 News

Gainesville Police busted a man they suspect broke into several area homes over the holidays, and swiped hundreds of items. The suspect remained under guard Wednesday night at the hospital, after police say he took to many prescription drugs before he was arrested. He is charged with grand theft and burglary with several more charges still to come.

Police were out at Oscar Sam Harris' home all day, sorting through hundreds of belongings they suspect he stole and stashed at his home. Because there is so much to go through an officer was stationed at the crime scene Wednesday night. Police broke into teams earlier in the day to search through the sea of bikes filling Harris' backyard. It looks like a giant flea market, but the more officers dig the more they find is stolen.

UF Senior Corey Comegys watches as officers move items to the front yard, "Everything that he just brought out is ours, that ladder, the box of Drano, the fire extinguisher."

And, then there are more pricey items like his big screen television. "It's good to get it back really. We really weren't thinking we were going to get it back," says Comegys.

Police arrested Harris Wednesday morning and got a search warrant to go through his home. On New Year's Day officers say a woman a few blocks away spotted him in his gray van backing up to a home where the owners were away.

"When this individual became aware that she was watching him, the neighbor was watching him, he quickly got in his vehicle and drove off. She considered this to be suspicious and followed him to this location 1722 NW 5th Avenue," says Det. W.J. Quirk of the Gainesville Police Department.

The woman called police who questioned Harris about why he was there. Detectives say his story never added up and had officers staked out the home. Late Wednesday night, two officers noticed flames in the backyard and officers moved in with the help of firefighters.

"When they extinguished the fire he realized that the item that had been on fire was a Hewlett Packard tower computer system and a Hewlett Packard flat screen monitor. It just happens that these items had been reported a day earlier in a burglary," says Quirk.

Comegys adds, "Two of the computers that were stolen, they're charred remains now."

Police say there are several victims just like Comegys, and they suspect as more students come back to town other cases will come in. Detectives say Harris told them he was a dumpster driver and that's where all the stuff came from. It's a story they're not buying given the volume of what they found. Police say an easy way to ensure your belongings get back to you if they're stolen is to use your driver's license number and engrave it on everything of value