A North
Naples man with an extensive criminal history faces felony burglary and theft charges
after a discarded lollipop stick led detectives to him.
The lollipop
stick was discovered while Collier County Sheriff’s Office detectives were
investigating a “Dinner Set” burglary at a residence in Pelican Bay in March.
Dinner Set burglars are professional criminals who typically strike upscale
homes while the residents are out to dinner.
Thomas
Christopher Crews, 53, 1288 Grand Canal Drive in North Naples, is in the
Collier County jail following his arrest Thursday on burglary and grand theft
charges.
Crews is a
registered felon and has spent more than 20 years in prison, according to
detectives. His arrest record in Collier County dates back to 1985.
Detectives gave
this account of the events leading up to the arrest:
Detectives
were investigating a report of a burglary that occurred March 6 at a residence
at 400 L’Ambiance Circle #103 in Pelican Bay in North Naples. The victim told
detectives that she left the residence for dinner around 6 p.m. and when she
returned at 10:30 p.m. she noticed the rear sliding glass door was ajar and
that some of her jewelry was missing.
The victim
also noticed a used lollipop stick that wasn’t hers that was on top of a
bedroom dresser.
Detectives
submitted the lollipop stick to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to be
processed for the presence of DNA.
Forensic
testing matched DNA evidence from the lollipop stick to Crews, detectives said.
Crews’ DNA was already on file at a DNA data bank in Florida from a 2001
Sarasota case.
Further
investigation by detectives revealed that Crews was living near Pelican Bay and
had an extensive criminal history, including residential burglaries.
Detectives
located Crews and he gave them permission to collect DNA evidence in order for
it to be submitted for comparison to the DNA discovered on the lollipop stick.
Detectives submitted Crews’ DNA to FDLE, and on Monday the results confirmed
that the DNA found on the lollipop stick was from Crews.
Detectives
located Crews at his residence on Thursday and arrested him.
