NEWS RELEASE

During the month of August, the Indian River County Sheriff’s Office received a number of complaints about auto burglaries occurring in the Pine Tree Park neighborhood, located west of 58th Avenue off 8th Street in Vero Beach. Through interviews and recovered property, Detective Tim Crooker was able to locate two suspects who admitted to participating in this series of auto burglaries.

Ashley Nicole Walker (23) of Vero Beach, was arrested late Tuesday evening on four counts of burglary to a conveyance and three counts of petit theft. A sixteen year old male accomplis was arrested earlier today on the same charges. Walker is currently being held at the Indian River County Jail on $43,000.00 bond. The male juvenile was transported to the Department of Juvenile Justice where he is being held.

Walker admitted to detectives that during these burglaries, she and other juveniles would take knives, pocket change, GPS devices, perfume, and other miscellaneous items from unlocked cars in the neighborhood. Walker led detectives to six residences where cars were burglarized. Of those six admitted burglaries, three were unreported to law enforcement. Detectives continue to work with these suspects to locate other subjects who were involved and other victims.

Indian River County Sheriff Deryl Loar stated, “We would ask that anyone who finds themselves a victim of crime, please call and report it to us. Your report may be the one that helps us solve a case. Detective Crooker has done a great job with this case and will continue to work this until all of the suspects have been arrested.”

Anyone with information about this case should contact Detective Tim Crooker at 772-2170804 in reference to case number 2014-146019. You can remain anonymous and be eligible for a reward of up to $1,000 by contacting Treasure Coast Crime Stoppers at 1-800-273-TIPS (8477) or http://www.tcwatch.org .