Gerald Blystone

On March 10, 2015, at about 2:10 AM., a white Ford van backs up to the front of Carrier Enterprises, at 5050 Investment Drive. A security video shows that the driver of the van exits and takes a long chain from the van and attaches it to the burglar bars that encase the front business entrance and hooks the chain to the trailer hitch on the van.  The male gets back into the driver’s seat and accelerates in an attempt to pull the burglar bars off. The suspect does this three times, but fails to remove the bars. The suspect then abandons his plan and flees in the van.  On March 18, 2015, after Detective Kenny Ellis, #5177, had reviewed the video of the incident he went to Carrier Enterprises and met with the manager.

After, Detective Ellis left the business and had pulled on Investment Drive he observed a vehicle that looks identical to the suspect vehicle.  Detective Ellis called for a marked patrol car and a traffic stop was made on the vehicle.  As Detective Ellis meets with the driver he noticed that the driver was wearing the exact same clothing (shirt, baseball cap, shoes and jeans) as the suspect in the video and matched the race, sex and age of the suspect. The detective personally knew the suspect from a previous criminal investigation.  The suspect agreed to meet with the detective at the Southwest Investigative Unit, where he was interviewed by Detective Ellis. During the interview the suspect admitted to the offense, stating he “…needed stuff to sell to get money for food…”  Detective Ellis secured an afterhours Arrest Warrant for felony Criminal Mischief (damage to the front of the building was estimated at $12,000) and the suspect was taken to jail. The suspect who has 16 prior criminal convictions will be filed on as an Impact Offender for this case.

The observation and interview skills, as well as the pure luck of Detective Ellis is outstanding and allowed for the removal of a career criminal from the streets of Oak Cliff.  The offense will be filed on case number 053185-2015.