Key Largo man charged with burglarizing motel room

Key Largo – A Key Largo man was arrested Sunday night, charged with stealing keys from a motel office and burglarizing a room at the motel.

Deputy Vaughn O’Keefe responded to the Bay Cove Motel at 6 p.m. after a couple staying at the motel discovered someone had entered their room and taken a wallet. They told the deputy they’d been at the beach since 4 p.m. and remembered locking the room door as they were leaving. Witnesses told the deputy they’d seen a man in the area who looked suspicious. An employee at the motel confirmed the man was the boyfriend of one of her employees, and he’d been at the motel earlier. She said it was strange, because her employee – his girlfriend – had gone home sick earlier and she said she was not sure what he was doing there. Further investigation revealed the extra room key for the room, kept in the office, was missing.

Deputy O’Keefe went to the employee’s home and questioned her. He then made contact with 39 year old Louis Terracino. Upon questioning Terracino, he admitted to taking the wallet from the room. He told Deputy O’Keefe the room’s door was open. He took the deputy to the location where he discarded the wallet, in a trash can at the Holiday Inn at the 99 mile marker of the highway. The wallet was recovered there; He then admitted discarding credit cards, checks and identification in several more locations. Deputy O’Keefe went to those locations and recovered the other items. In a trash can in front of a dive shop, he found a debit card from the wallet, along with three keys to rooms at the Bay Cove Motel.

Terracino was arrested. He was charged with burglary, two counts of theft and tampering with evidence. He was booked into jail.