Police Suspect Teen Of 75 Car Burglaries In Pembroke Pines
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PEMBROKE PINES (CBSMiami) -- Arms folded throughout his bond hearing, Omar Bautista listened intently as a judge rattled off a list of charges against him.
After his arrest, the 18-year-old from Pembroke Pines admitted to dozens of car burglaries, police said.
"Mr. Bautista, you're charged with three counts of an unarmed burglary, you're charged with one count of, basically, having a juvenile lookout participate in your crime spree, one count of petit theft and actually a fourth count of a vehicle burglary," said bond court Judge John Fry.
A day earlier, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer caught Bautista and an accomplice breaking into a car near S.W. 122nd Terrace and S.W. 8th Court.
Officials believe he's responsible for up to 75 break-ins.
"So there's a whole bunch of stuff going on here," said Judge Fry. "Which obviously causes me some concern. That's 50 to 75 people whose vehicles have been broken into."
But because Bautista has no prior record, Judge Fry told the teenager he could go home on house arrest but must wear a tracking device and can only leave for school.
He gave Bautista a stern warning about the teen's future.
"You need to listen to me for a minute," said the judge. "I cannot, in a more stronger way, convey this without lacing it with profanity and physical threats. If you mess this up, you're gonna be sitting in there no bond every single day. Your mother and your grandparents are here, they're destroyed because of this. Don't mess it up. Good luck."
