Marathon men charged with vehicle burglaries

Two Marathon men are in jail, charged with burglarizing a car and subsequently using credit cards stolen in the burglary. They also burglarized a boat with someone sleeping on it.

Deputy Rosa DiGiovanni met with the victim of the car burglary Saturday. The woman said her 2015 Ford Mustang was parked in front of her house on Gulf Stream Boulevard when it was burglarized. She said she always leaves it unlocked. She said when she got into her car Saturday morning, she found her cigarettes and wallet missing from inside, including her debit card.

She said later in the day, her bank told her the debit card had been used at Walgreen’s at 10870 Overseas Highway and at the Circle K store at 11100 Overseas Highway, both in Marathon. That is when she contacted the Sheriff’s Office.

Deputy DiGiovanni went to Walgreens to investigate. She and Deputy Leon Bourcier watched video of the purchases made with the stolen card. Both deputies recognized 20 year old Eli Hager using the card. He was accompanied by 23 year old Gerry Pinson.

The deputies then went to the Circle K store in Marathon. While there, they saw Hager and Pinson walk in the store and make some purchases using the card.

During subsequent interviews with Detective Scott Ward, Hager told him he’d burglarized a number of vehicles “over the past couple of days.” He said he “just likes to get quick hits for cash.” One of the burglaries he said he and Pinson committed was to a vessel located at 11699 Overseas Highway. This burglary had already been reported to the Sheriff’s Office and was under investigation at the time Hager told Detective Ward about it.

The owner of the vessel was sleeping on board when the burglary took place. He called the Sheriff’s Office at 5:30 a.m. Saturday to report Pinson entered his boat where it was docked. He said he woke because he heard a noise, and could see Pinson clearly, recognized him from previous contacts and, when he confronted him, Pinson ran from the boat and jumped into a waiting truck. Hager told Detective Ward he was the one driving the truck Pinson jumped into.

Both men were arrested. They were both charged with burglary and theft. Hager was also charged with fraudulent use of a credit card. Pinson was additionally charged with burglary of the occupied vessel. Detective Ward is continuing to investigate and more charges are expected.