INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — A homeless man is facing a felony burglary charge among others after police pinned him as the suspect in a home burglary that occurred in South County in the middle of the day Thursday.
The victims of the burglary arrived home to find a broken glass door with a cinder block nearby and their house ransacked, according to the police report. The couple told police the house was unoccupied between 11:17 a.m. and 12:46 p.m. Items that were missing from the home included an iPad and an assortment of jewelry.
The defendant, Joseph DeGraw, 48, homeless in Vero Beach, was spotted by one of the victims after the crime, riding his bicycle in the neighborhood. DeGraw reportedly had a bag attached to the bike’s handlebars. Police received complaints shortly after of a man matching DeGraw’s description looking through the windows of houses nearby.
DeGraw was arrested after a short pursuit by the police. One of the victims of the burglary identified several pieces of jewelry found in DeGraw’s pockets as her own, according to the arrest affidavit.
DeGraw is being held in lieu of $50,500 bond and faces felony charges of burglary, grand theft, possession of burglary tools, two counts dealing in stolen property, and one misdemeanor charge of resisting arrest without violence.
This was the second time the home had been broken into within the span of one year, the victims told police.
