On July 01, 2013, at approximately 11:19 a.m., Pima County deputies responded to a call about a burglary in the 6600 block of North Montebella Road. When deputies arrived, they received information that the victim, while working in his yard, noticed an unknown male on his property.
When the victim asked the man if he needed help with something, the man asked for directions. The victim gave him directions and the man left on foot. A few minutes later, the victim’s wife came outside and asked him if he told a man that he could use their bathroom. He told her he had only spoken with a man and gave him directions to a location near their home. The couple became concerned about the incident and looked around their home for anything suspicious. They later found that a bank card was taken out of a wallet located in their vehicle in the garage. The victim checked his bank account online and noticed fraudulent charges posted to his account.
On July 05, 2013, shortly after 8:50 a.m., deputies were called to the 600 block of West Paseo Norteno Road regarding a burglary. Deputies received information from the victim’s neighbor that an unknown male came out of the house across the street and ran into the nearby desert. He immediately contacted his neighbor to advise him of what he just witnessed. The victim stated that he was in the backyard watering his plants and never noticed anyone in his house. He immediately went through his house and noticed his wallet was taken and later received a call from his bank about possible fraudulent charges on his account.
Detectives believe that both of the homes were targeted by the same suspect. After following up on several leads and working with the banks of the victims, they were able to identify a potential suspect. On July 11, 2013, detectives located and later charged 29-year-old Samuel Searles with two counts of burglary.
Detectives would like to ask for the public’s assistance in identifying other victims that might have been targeted by Searles and urge anyone with information about their case to call 88-crime or 9-1-1.