WHAT: Burglary, theft arrestWHO: James Virgil McDowell, 30, 240 Swain St., Copeland
WHEN: Monday, June 23, 2008
ARREST LOCATION: Glades Motel, 3115 U.S. 41 E., East Naples
CHARGES: grand theft (three counts), burglary (three counts) and criminal mischief (one count)
SUMMARY: McDowell has been on a one-man crime spree in the Everglades City area since his release from a Texas jail earlier this month, deputies say.
Arrest reports gave this account:
Soon after McDowell returned to Copeland on June 15 he stole a woman's car, which deputies later recovered.
McDowell stole the woman's purse, removed the keys and then went to the parking lot where he hit the panic alarm, which identified the woman's car for him to steal. McDowell was sitting near the car when deputies found it on Brockington Road on June 16.
On June 17, McDowell broke into a residence at 15959 Janes Scenic Drive.
On June 18 McDowell broke into a 1991 Ford Festiva at 939 Church St. and stole stereo equipment, which he then sold to a friend for $100.
On June 21 McDowell stole a bag of corn chips from a Copeland convenience store and taunted the store clerk.
McDowell's friends told CCSO investigators that they had been expecting him to arrive home from jail by bus, but instead he drove up in a 2008 gray Hyundai Sonata with a Texas license plate that he said he stole in Tampa, arrest reports said.
Friends also told deputies that McDowell "was paranoid" because he forgot wipe his fingerprints from the Festiva and that he may have cut himself breaking into the car and that deputies "would have his DNA," arrest reports said.
McDowell fled Copleand after learning deputies were looking for him, reports said.
Deputies found McDowell at the Glades Motel on Monday where he checked in under the alias "James Vital,'' reports said.
He was arrested and booked into the Collier County jail.
