Rash of burglaries solved

Walton County Sheriff’s investigators have been burning the midnight oil tracking leads to what appears to be separate burglary rings operating from the beaches to the central and north end of the county. Over the last week, sheriff’s personnel have been making arrests and doing an inventory of the stolen items.

On Thursday Jan. 28 at around 3 a.m., an alert homeowner on Garden Bay Circle in Miramar Beach observed a person attempting to break into vehicles. A nearby Walton County Sheriff’s deputy quickly arrested Payton Fitzgerald after he climbed over a home’s privacy fence. A few hours later, an accomplice, 22-year-old Dane Patrick Hanlon Kemper, was also arrested. The two men are persons of interest in a rash of vehicle break-ins that have plagued South Walton County over recent weeks.

Wednesday night, Feb. 3, two Niceville men were caught by Walton County Sheriff’s deputies in the act of burglarizing a home on Bayshore Drive in Miramar Beach. Once again, an alert neighbor noted that the men were behind a residence where the owners live out of state, and no one was supposed to be there. Brandon Corbitt and Christopher Sylvester were trying to remove a television from the home.They now face burglary charges.

Walton County Sheriff Michael A. Adkinson, Jr. congratulated his deputies and investigators in putting in the long hours, and wearing down the shoe leather in tracking the burglary leads. Sheriff Adkinson says, “All their hard work has resulted in the arrests of a number of burglars preying upon honest, hard working residents here in Walton County.”

The Sheriff’s Office continues to track leads in the theft of several large screen televisions from both homes and business in South Walton County. In addition, they continue to look for suspects in the burglary of thousands of dollars worth of construction equipment from two rental companies along U.S. 98.

If you have information, contact the Crime Stoppers of Walton County on its toll free line at 1-866-718-TIPS (8477). One can also contact the sheriff’s office main number at 892-8186.