DELTONA, Fla. – Deputies are crediting a smear of red sauce and a pizza box with helping to nab a man accused of breaking into at least two cars in Deltona.
Dewey Smith, 38, was arrested Wednesday by deputies with the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office.
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According to the sheriff’s office, the break-ins were reported around 7:30 a.m. on Jefferson Avenue.
Investigators searched the first car and found the center console and glove box had been rummaged through and the victim’s wallet was missing, according to a news release.
Deputies said they found what appeared to be marinara on the interior of a car door. A few houses down the road, an empty pizza box was found near another car that had been broken into, records show. Investigators said a 9mm handgun and an old concealed weapons permit were taken from this vehicle.
As deputies canvased the neighborhood, they said they spoke with a woman who said Smith, an acquaintance of the woman, had stopped by in the night asking if she knew anyone who wanted to buy a gun. The woman said Smith also asked her to call a number to see what the balance was on a gift card, but she refused, records show.
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The woman told deputies Smith then left, but not before taking a pizza box, with leftover pizza in it, out of her garbage, according to investigators.
Deputies said they then learned that credit cards taken from one of the vehicles were used at three gas stations overnight. Investigators found Smith walking on Twin Oaks Street with the stolen credit cards still in his possession, records show.
“You got me red-handed,” Smith said to deputies, according to a news release.
Smith faces charges of armed burglary of a conveyance, burglary of a conveyance, four counts of fraudulent use of credit cards, grand theft of a firearm, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, theft and dealing in stolen property.
Investigators have not located the stolen gun.
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