Former Florida police officer accused of stealing over $50,000 worth of items from Volusia County home
Mugshot of Theodore Pearl | Photo Credit: Lake County Sheriffs Office
DEBARY, Fla. - A Debary home burglary scheme engineered by a former Tavares police officer and the victim's grandson landed both of them in handcuffs, deputies said.
Theodore Pearl, former Tavares police officer, was charged with burglary of an unoccupied dwelling, grand theft of $20,000 or more, fraud to swindle and obtain property under $20,000, two counts of dealing in stolen property, and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, an arrest affidavit shows.
On April 24, a couple said their Debary home was burglarized while vacationing in Texas. The woman noticed the front door was unlocked, with no sign of forced entry, and discovered most of her jewelry and debit and credit cards were missing. When the couple checked their bank account, they saw two attempted withdrawals for $2,000 each.
During the investigation, the woman's stepdaughter said she saw the couple's checkbooks and a gold pendant in her son Colton Herring's bedroom, deputies said.
When detectives spoke with Herring, who was being held at the juvenile justice center in Daytona Beach, he said his friend Theodore Pearl picked him up, and the two hung out.
Pearl allegedly told Herring he wanted to steal items from his grandmother's home. The two drove to the woman's home and Pearl walked into an unlocked door in the back of the home. Herring said he never went inside the home, but saw Pearl come out with jewelry boxes and a checkbook around 3 a.m., detectives said.
Later on, Herring admitted to going inside the home and stealing several pieces of jewelry as well as placing a glove on the home's doorbell camera before leaving the home. He also said Pearl planned to pawn the jewelry.
A search of Herring's iPhone revealed the conversation between the two before the burglary.
Teddy: I want day wholeeee jewelry drawer [expletive]
Colton: N we gonna get ittt
Teddy: Im leaving here at 11:30-1145 n imma call you
The two continued to converse about the burglary and exchange the victim's personal information through text.
The tag belonging to Pearl's car was also flagged as driving in the area of the burglary during the time it happened, detectives said.
Pearl was also identified by video footage when he sold some of the jewelry to a pawn shop. The transaction forms from the pawn shop included Pearl's personal information, including his place of employment at the Tavares Police Department.
The tattoos seen on Pearl while he was in the pawnshop also matched the tattoos on his social media. He also continued to contact the shop owner, sending photos of the victim's missing jewelry.
Pearl was arrested and is being held in the Lake County Jail.
A statement from the Tavares Police Department regarding Pearl's arrest said, "We are saddened to see that former Officer Teddy Pearl has taken a different path in his life after leaving our department. We don’t condone criminal behavior of any kind- We hope that the justice system prevails for the victims in this case."