Bay Area Serial Burglar Behind Bars: Cops

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — St. Petersburg Police say they’ve arrested a man who may be responsible for more than a dozen residential burglaries committed across the Tampa Bay area since August.

According to the agency, Lupen Jerusho River Font, 35, was brought into custody shortly after an Oct. 4 residential burglary in the 8000 block of Riverside Drive North. The victim in that case happened to spot Font trying to get into the home around 9:40 a.m. and confronted him, an email from the police department said. (For more local news from Florida, click here to sign up for real-time news alerts and newsletters from St. Pete Patch. Click here to find your local Florida Patch. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

“Font fled, but the victim fired and hit his vehicle several times,” the email added. Police caught up with Font near 94th Avenue and Fourth Street North a short time later.

While interviewing Font about the Wednesday burglary, detectives say they began suspecting him in an armed burglary that occurred at the same address on Oct. 1. More than 20 firearms and other items were taken from the home during the first burglary, the agency’s email said.

Acting on the hunch, “detectives recovered six stolen firearms and a substantial amount of stolen property,” the agency reported.

Police say Font agreed to work with investigators and has identified more than a dozen homes in St. Petersburg, Gulfport and Tampa he may have burglarized.

The investigation into Font’s alleged activities continues. Police say he is facing “numerous residential burglary charges, as well as aggravated assault, arson, and grand theft motor vehicle” charges.

Font, a St. Petersburg resident, was being held in the Pinellas County Jail Thursday without bond.

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Booking photo courtesy of the Pinellas County Jail