Cat Burglar Implicated in 29 Cases

In the late 1980s, a Pasco County Sheriffs deputy named Will Lawless arrested a man going by the name Shawn Blaskey. Blaskey was suspected in a number of burglaries in Holiday Lake Estates. He was arrested and later released from jail.

This summer, to his surprise, Lawless, now a sergeant in the property crimes unit, encountered the man again.

The sheriff’s office had been investigating a rash of burglaries in the Port Richey area when a man named Shawn popped up as a suspect. Only now, he’s known by his birth name of Shawn Culver.  

When Lawless ran a search on Culver’s name, he found that he used Blaskey as an alias. Blaskey was the last name of Culver’s grandmother, who raised him.

“Once I knew it was Blaskey, we pretty much knew we were on the right track,” Lawless said.

Culver, 42, was arrested and is now accused of committing at least 29 burglaries or attempted residential burglary cases in West Pasco this year between February and the middle of July. In some of those cases, something was stolen. In aothers, burglaries were attempted but nothing was stolen.

The arrest came after months of investigation into the overnight burglaries in the Port Richey area, said Jennifer Zoccoli, the lead property crimes detective on the case.

Zoccoli said that it is unusual to see a rash of burglaries by one person on this scale.

“I’ve never seen something this prolific,” she said.

 The burglaries happened around Fox Hollow Drive, Embassy Boulevard, Lake Christina Lane and Monarch Drive.

In some cases, Culver got into homes while people were sleeping in them. In some, he took bags and wallets and got ahold of credit and debit cards. He also took items miscellaneous items that included electronics like iPads.

Zoccoli is still counting up the damage, but she says she has discovered $4,000 worth of purchases racked up on stolen cards.

Deputies touted the case as a triumph of the Sheriff’s Office‘s Intelligence –Led Policing strategy, which focuses on analysis and allocating resources to high-crime areas.

The sheriff’s office started surveillance measures, including stake out in boats. They canvassed neighborhoods and used a composite drawing to try and identify the burglary suspect. Two of Culver’s acquaintances identified him to he deputies.

It was during surveillance one night that a deputy spotted Culver. Culver fled but was later arrested on July 21.

Zoccoli noted that the burglaries were happening after the middle of the month.  She said Culver is on the food stamp program.

“Our theory was that he was running out of money,” she said

Zoccoli said that in some cases, Culver entered homes through sliding glass doors that were unlocked or cracked. She cautioned locals to take additional measures to secure their entryways.

Culver was charged with 25 counts of burglary and five counts of attempted burglary. He also was charged with obstructing justice and loitering or prowling.