NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
February 10, 2008
Contact: Michele Nicholson
Public Information Officer
(850) 651-7420
THIRD ARMED HOME INVASION ROBBER SUSPECT CAPTURED
Therence Crooks
The third and final suspect in an armed home
invasion robbery in Destin is now in custody, due in part to a tip to Emerald
Coast Crime Stoppers.
Deputies
with the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office Problem Oriented Policing Squad – or
POP Squad – located and arrested wanted fugitive Therence Walter Crooks Saturday
evening around 8:50 at the Santa Rosa Mall in Mary Esther.
The 17-year-old
Crooks, of 36 Jonquil Avenue in Fort Walton Beach, was taken into custody
without incident.
Okaloosa
County deputies were searching for Crooks in connection with the armed home
invasion robbery of a Destin man on February 2nd. Two other suspects,
16-year old Robert Eugene Brantley and 16-year old Andre Brooks, had been
arrested the following day. Investigators say the trio stole a handgun, cash,
and small electronic items from the Kelly Street homeowner.
Crooks is
charged with home invasion robbery and grand theft of a firearm.
In addition, he also faces one count of
robbery with a firearm in connection with the January 18th, 2008
robbery of a pizza deliveryman on Denton
Boulevard in Fort Walton Beach.
The
POP Squad identifies and targets high impact criminal activities that arise in
the community, from burglaries to street-level narcotics.
###