A 17-year-old male and two juveniles have been arrested and charged in a series of car break-ins that took place last month in the Brookhaven Heights neighborhood.
Julio Rodriguez-Mora, 17, of Brookhaven is charged in three car break-ins that happened Jan. 28 in Brookhaven Heights, according to Brookhaven Police. Rodriguez-Mora is also charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor and loitering and prowling. The two juveniles are also charged in the car break-ins.
Police said they received a 911 call from a resident who spotted three males in his driveway pulling on his vehicles’ car door handles. The resident provided police video surveillance of the suspects, said Brookhaven Police spokesperson Sgt. Jake Kissel in a news release.
Police set up a perimeter of surrounding streets after the 911 call and officers stopped a ride-share vehicle leaving the neighborhood with three male passengers.
“A traffic stop was conducted and revealed the three males matched the males in the video provided by the 911 caller,” Kissel said in the news release.
Police later identified the three suspects in the other car break-ins by utilizing the “Neighbors” app provided by doorbell-camera company Ring.
Hundreds of law enforcement agencies across the country have teamed up with Ring, owned by Amazon, to gain free access to surveillance video shared by customers on Ring’s public social network, called Neighbors.
Through the partnership, law enforcement agencies gain access to the Neighborhood Portal, which includes a map of where Ring cameras are located.