TEXAS POLICE ARREST THIEF WHO STOLE COMPUTERS IN HPD arrests 'serial' cell phone burglary suspect | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

ov. 9, 2007, 5:18PM
HPD arrests 'serial' cell phone burglary suspect

Police have arrested and charged a man allegedly responsible for stealing more than $100,000 worth of merchandise from several west Houston cell phone businesses during October.

Santos Feliciano,36, is charged with burglary of a building and was arrested on Monday. Authorities said Feliciano confessed to nine burglaries, mostly cell phone businesses, that occurred within a two and a half week period. The last incident occurred at Anotonio's Flying Pizza, 2920 Hillcroft, where a safe wasstolen.

The burglaries usually took place after hours between midnight and 6:30 a.m. and Feliciano used a brick or a rock to break the glass of the businesses where he stole cell phones, pre-paid phone cards and on some occasions laptop computers, said Officer Chad Striver of HPDs Burglary and Theft Division. He said Feliciano then sold the merchandise on the street.

"In the interview, he (Feliciano) told us everything was usually gone within 24 hours," said Striver, noting that this made the merchandise difficult to recover.

During the investigation, Striver said police received a Crime Stoppers tip providing Feliciano's name as a suspect. Officers then obtained an HPD booking photo of Feliciano from a prior arrest and compared it to surveillance video and photos taken from one of the burglaries to make a positive identification.

The thefts from the burglaries totaled about $138,000, Striver said.

Feliciano remains in Harris County Jail in lieu of a $15,000 bond. He is scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday.

Striver said police are still searching for two other men are believed to be involved in the burglaries.

Anyone with information in this case is urged to contact the HPD Burglary and Theft Division at 713-308-0900 or Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.