Pasadena, La Porte police capture two suspected car burglary suspects
Two men believed to be responsible for a rash of car burglaries in southeast Harris County during the past few weeks have been arrested due to a a joint undercover operation by the La Porte Police's Street Crimes Unit and Criminal Investigation Division, Pasadena and Houston police.
The two men were identified in a La Porte police news release as Donald Edmond, 24, and David Gilliam, 20. Edmond was charged with evading in a vehicle and Gilliam was charged with burglary of a motor vehicle.
Investigators also obtained information which may link the two to numerous other area crimes over the past year, the news release states.
La Porte Police Chief Kenith Adcox said in the release that actions leading up to the arrest of Edmond and Gilliam began just before noon when undercover La Porte detectives, who were conducting surveillance operation at the Bank of America branch at 815 State Highway 146, noticed a silver Dodge Charger, occupied by two black males, drive around in the parking lot and then leave the area. The vehicle and its occupants fit the description of the suspects and vehicle involved in at least one other burglary in La Porte.
The officers followed the vehicle while it trolled parking lots of several additional banks in La Porte, Seabrook and Pasadena, finally arriving in the parking lot of the Bank of America on Burke Road in Pasadena.
While at the last bank, La Porte police notified the Pasadena Police Department while a La Porte undercover officer entered the bank, identified himself discreetly to the teller and retrieved a bank bag that had been stuffed with paper. With the bank bag in hand, the detective left the building, got back in his car and drove toward the Kroger parking lot at the corner of Burke and Spencer.
The suspects immediately began following the undercover detective’s car, Adcox said in the release. After officers from both departments secured the area, the undercover detective parked his vehicle in the Kroger lot and went into a nearby store, leaving the bank bag in his car’s front seat. As soon as the detective was out of sight, the remaining officers saw one of the men get out of his car and retrieve the bank bag from the unmarked police car.
When the man got back into the suspect vehicle, Pasadena officers in marked police cars attempted to block the suspect vehicle, but the suspects refused to surrender and instead sped away in the Challenger.
Officers chased the vehicle a short distance, until the suspect vehicle finally crashed into a pole near the intersection of Jackson Avenue at Pasadena Boulevard. One suspect was immediately captured and the other one, who had fled on foot, was captured a short time later with the assistance of a Houston Police helicopter.
