SEBASTIAN — Joshua Cotto, of Sebastian, and Michael Lang, of Vero Beach, are each being held on $36,000 bond after being arrested on multiple counts of felony burglary and unlawful use of police communications among other charges.
Cotto, 19, and Lang, 22, were spotted in the early hours of Friday morning loitering outside the pharmacy drive-up window at Publix on Sebastian Boulevard, while the store was closed.
Upon approaching the men, a Sebastian police officer observed “both subjects to have large bulging objects in their pockets.” Both subjects granted the officer permission to search their person and removed items from their pockets, according to the arrest affidavit.
The officer removed a cigarette pack, lighter, and $12.70 in change from Lang’s pockets, and a Garmin GPS with car plug, a cell phone, three sets of earphones, men’s cologne, two packs of cigarettes, a wallet, lighter, and cash from Cotto’s pockets.
One set of headphones was connected to the cellphone, which was found to be running a police scanner application, the report states. The officer discovered the men were using the application to monitor police activity when he heard his own voice come through the headphones during his search.
The items found on the two subjects were traced back to at least two car burglaries on Stoney Point Drive in the Sebastian Lakes Subdivision. Two other car burglaries on the same street were reported but were unable to be linked to Cotto and Lang.
The stolen items totaled $150.70 in value and were returned to their rightful owners after the evidence was processed.
Each of the subjects are being charged with two counts of felony burglary, theft, misdemeanor unlawful use of police communication, and loitering or prowling.