Tipster Helps Police Catch School Burglar

Follow CBSMIAMI.COM: Facebook | Twitter

MIAMI (CBSMiami) –  A man accused of stealing thousands of dollars worth of copper wire and security camera equipment is behind bars after a tipster called authorities following a CBS4 report.

Bernard Aaron didn't have much to say as he left a police station with detectives, bound for the county jail but school board detectives said he was quite talkative when they showed up at his home to arrest him.

Authorities said he confessed to eight different heists over the past year of copper wire and expensive security camera equipment taken from Edison Middle and Senior High Schools and Jose De Diego Middle School, about 20 blocks South from where he's living.

Click here to watch Brian Andrews' report. 

School board police said he preferred to strike in the middle of the night between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m.

Officials said the camera systems he ripped off caught him doing "Circ Du Sole" to mount walls and access roofs, before he cut the cables and carted off the goods to be pawned or sold as scrap.

Detectives said after CBS4's Peter D'Oench broke the story, crimestoppers of Miami-Dade got the tip worth a thousand dollars.

Detectives then worked the case, identifying Aaron who has a criminal past for drugs, petty theft, trespassing and drinking in public.

Bernard Aaron is charged with burglary and grand theft of more than 10,000 dollars from the Miami-Dade School Board.

RELATED CONTENT: