Teen charged with burglarizing neighbor’s house

A Tavernier teen was arrested today, charged with entering a neighbor’s house when she wasn’t there, stealing two checks and depositing them in his own bank account.

The victim, who lives on Arbor Lane in Tavernier, called the Sheriff’s Office on March 10th to report someone had entered her home while she was away. She said the person had removed two checks and then deposited them at a Key Largo bank. The two checks had already been deposited once by the victim via a mobile device. After the bank noticed the second deposit, the bank notified her of the issue prompting her call to the Sheriff’s Office. She called back several days later and said she believed there had been more than one unauthorized entry to her home. She said on the second occasion, she believes the person who entered injured her dog. Investigators say she initially reported finding no forced entry to her home, but later said she found pry marks at the rear of the home after the second alleged entry.

Further investigation revealed the account the money was deposited into belonged to 18 year old Levy Diaz Torres, who lives next door to the victim. When Torres was confronted about the deposits into his account, he admitted to taking the checks. He said he entered the victim’s home one time through an unlocked door while he was intoxicated. He said he did not injure the victim’s dog.

A warrant was obtained for his arrest and he was booked into jail today on charges of one count of burglary, grand theft and two counts uttering a forged instrument.

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