A burglar appears to be targeting the personal jewelry of South Tampa residents.
Tampa Police Department's District 1 division put out an alert to residents and businesses in South Tampa about a string of day-time burglaries that appear to be connected.
Between March 26 and April 11, there were at least eight reported burglaries of private homes, nearly all taking place during the day.
Police believe the burglar is targeting jewelry, based on what he has stolen so far.
One of the recent victims caught the burglar on his home surveillance camera.
"He was only in my house for a minute but that's all it really took for him to grab some of my wife's jewelry, some of her checks and was out the door," Cameron Brown told ABC Action News on Wednesday. "Seemed like a professional, knew what he was doing," Brown added.
Thanks to Brown's video we have a description of the burglar: he appears to be a Hispanic man age 25 to 39-year-old, about 6 feet tall and weighing about 170 pounds with dark or black hair. He had no facial hair during the burglary on Monday. He spoke fluent Spanish in a phone call made at the end of the theft.
Also, the suspect was driving a "brownish older model 4 door sedan." Another witness tells Tampa Police that the suspect was "neatly dressed" and appeared to be a salesman.
Homes on the following streets were burglarized during that time:
- MacDill Ave S
- Brookwood Dr
- El Prado Blvd
- Estrella St W
- Shamrock Rd S
- Platt Street W
- Barcelona St W
- Manhattan Ave
Police are asking that residents and businesses on or near these streets to check any home or business surveillance video to see if they recorded the burglar.
If so, police ask that you contact them at 813-354-6600.
You can also call the Tampa Police Department non-emergency number at 813-231-6130 if you observe any suspicious activity in your neighborhood.
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