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Police: Wife of accused burglar says husband was at swingers club during crime

Couple charged in Windermere burglary

Suzy and John Fitzpatrick

WINDERMERE, Fla. – A woman told detectives that her husband could not possibly be the man seen in surveillance video breaking into a Windermere home earlier this month because the couple was at a swingers club in Eustis when the crime was being committed, according to the Windermere Police Department. 

Video from the home in Windermere showed two men, one of whom was armed with a rifle, enter into a Magnolia Street home around 1:50 a.m. Aug. 20. Police said the men stole a 65" LG 4K television, a Dell laptop and five computer monitors.

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After police released images from the surveillance system, they received tips from the public identifying John Fitzpatrick, 32, as one of the men in the video, according to a warrant.

Detectives located the suspect's wife, Suzy Fitzpatrick, 25, at the cellphone repair shop the couple owns and operates in Winter Garden.

When detectives showed Suzy Fitzpatrick the video, she was quick to offer an alibi for her husband, police said.

"That can't be my husband," Suzy Fitzpatrick said, according to the report. "That time, we was at a swingers club."

Suzy Fitzpatrick then changed her tune and told the detective that it was her husband in the video, but he only committed the burglary because he was forced to, the report said.

She claimed that she was drunk when she left the "Ranch 4 Play" swingers club in Eustis with her husband and when they returned to their cellphone repair shop, three armed men kidnapped them at gunpoint and forced them to commit the burglary, police said.

John Fitzpatrick provided the same alibi but detectives said they determined that was a lie.

Police said John Fitzpatrick committed the burglary with another man while his wife waited in a nearby vehicle. When surveillance photos began to circulate, John Fitzpatrick shaved his beard to change his appearance, police said.

Suzy Fitzpatrick was arrested in Winter Garden on Monday and John Fitzpatrick was arrested in Gulfport, Miss., on Tuesday. Both are charged with armed burglary and grand theft. 

The third man seen in the surveillance video has not been arrested.


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