On September 24, 2014, at approximately12:00 PM., unknown suspects broke into a residence at 3400 Banning Street and removed property. One of the items taken was an iPad. The owner provided officers with a video recording of the offense.  On September 25, 2014, a Southwest Deployment Officer contacted the owner and was advised that the iPad was equipped with a tracking device. The owner stated the device showed to be in an apartment complex located in Mesquite, TX.  The Deployment officer went to the complex and observed a pickup truck matching the suspect vehicle description parked in the parking lot. A license plate check of the vehicle showed an outstanding felony warrant for Failure to Register as a Sex Offender. Shortly after, an unknown individual later determined to be suspect Keith Watts entered the vehicle and left the location. The officer collaborated with the Mesquite Police Department and had the suspect vehicle stopped. Suspect Watts was arrested for the outstanding felony warrant. Keith Watts, who matched the physical description of the suspect from the burglary offense video, was transported to the Southwest Investigative office where he was interviewed by Detective T. Somers #7940.  Although he refused to cooperate during the interview,  Deployment Sergeant S. Conover #3261, was able to secured a search warrant for Mr. Watts’ apartment.

Deployment officers conducted a search of the suspect’s apartment and recovered most of the owner’s stolen property. While inventorying the owner’s stolen iPad, officers discovered a video of suspect Watts filming himself.  The owner also provided additional videos to Detective Somers that clearly identifies suspect Watts as the burglary suspect. On September 30, 2014, a Burglary of a Habitation case was filed on Keith Watts.

This is an example of excellent investigative work by Southwest Deployment Officers and follow-up by Detective T. Somers. This offense was documented on Incident Report #2299979-2014.