Daphne police arrest five on car burglary charges

photo1.jpgJordan Blanchette, 20, faces four counts of breaking and entering a vehicle.

DAPHNE, Alabama — Officers arrested 5 males, three of them juveniles, on charges that they were driving through subdivisions stealing items from unlocked cars early Tuesday morning, Daphne Police Cpl. Jason Vannoy said.

A resident of the Stratford Glen Drive neighborhood, who happened to be awake early getting ready for work, saw a group of young men walking through the area “pulling on car door handles” as a car pulled along on the street nearby, Vannoy said.

At about 5 a.m., an officer arrived to find the car in question leaving the neighborhood with five young men inside. He pulled the car over, and soon found a wide variety of stolen items piled inside the vehicle, Vannoy said.

photo2.jpgCody Steber, 18, faces four counts of breaking and entering a vehicle.

“They had cell phones, pocket knives, GPS units, radios, sunglasses, perfume, tools, portable DVD players, iPhone chargers,” Vannoy said.

The officers arrested two adults — Jordan Blanchette, 20, and Cody Steber, 18 — and three teenaged juveniles, he said.

Each face four counts of breaking and entering a vehicle. For an adult, each Class C felony is punishable by a fine of up to $15,000 and a jail sentence of up to 10 years.

A few of the GPS units found in the suspects’ car were stolen months ago from vehicles along Ridgewood Drive in Daphne, “so we think some of the members of this group have been at it for a long time,” Vannoy said.

He said Daphne police have made 15 such arrests since spring break, each of them generally involving a small group of males in their teens or early 20s. 

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