SILVER SPRING, Md. (7News) — Police in Montgomery County, Maryland, are revealing how they took down an accused thief responsible for doing almost $20,000 in damage to almost 100 cars.
The damage happened at three different parking decks along Wayne Avenue, Cameron Street and Ellsworth Drive in downtown Silver Spring. Those parking decks are filled with bright lights and cameras, but investigators said that didn’t stop 19-year-old Xavier Turner.
“It’s a lot of damage that one person can cause,” said Commander Jason Cokinos with Montgomery County Police Department’s (MCPD) Third District.
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MCPD released an edited video showing who they believe is Turner smashing car windows and reaching in to take mostly smaller items like change, sunglasses and credit cards. Police said what he leaves behind is much worse.
“The bigger issue is you have pieces of glass all over your vehicle and your vehicle is damaged,” said Cokinos.
This was a lengthy and extensive investigation that started when crime analysts noticed a pattern to several car break-in reports. They used the cameras inside the garages to pull video and understand what was going on.
“We deployed our patrol officers from the midnight shift strategically to different garages,” said Cokinos. “One night in July they heard the sounds of glass breaking in the garage.”
Then, an officer was at the right place at the right time.
“They immediately sealed off all exits to the garage and our suspect came down the stairwell as shown in the video that was released to the public, right into the arms of a waiting police officer,” said Cokinos.
Investigators believe Turner was working alone and said he has a past history.
“He has been arrested previously, the detective knew of him,” said Cokinos.
Police arrested someone a few months before for a string of similar parking garage break-ins. They’ve seen a steep drop-off in these types of crimes since both people were arrested. Cokinos said this year car theft in garages is down by double digits, and these arrests help their goal.
“We hope others note you can’t come to Silver Spring and commit crimes,” said Cokinos.
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