PENSACOLA BEACH, Fla. — The arrest report for the burglary at Crabs on Pensacola Beach reveals how the five Houston suspects allegedly executed the crime and how deputies quickly arrested them.
WEAR News previously reported that these five men were arrested in Mississippi and Alabama for the July 20 burglary at Crabs:
Narcus Winters-Fowler, 19Daniel McGilary, 19Issac Brown, 24Brandon Ward, 38Johntethon Smith, 43
All five were extradited back to Escambia County Thursday night and booked into jail on these charges:
possession of tools during a burglaryburglaryuse a two-way device to commit a felonydamaging property $1,000 or morelarceny between $20,000-$100,000
According to the arrest report, the crime took place from approximately 4 a.m. to 4:30 a.m.
Crabs staff determined that approximately $56,000 in cash had been stolen.
The report states the kitchen manager arrived at 5:30 a.m. to an unusually dark and quiet building with equipment turned off. He noticed several loose wires hanging from ceiling, broken surveillance cameras and a money safe that had been “sawed into.”
A Crabs owner was then called to the building. He showed surveillance video to Escambia County deputies.
According to the report, just before 4 a.m., surveillance video shows 3-4 masked males enter the restaurant through “a busted glass panel in one of the back garage doors that faces the Gulf.” They were carrying crow bars and sawing machines, among other tools.
The report states video shows the males walk through the front of the business and “go directly into the money room” where they began sawing the ATM safe. The cameras and power then shut off.
“At least two of the suspects appeared to be on their phones communicating with someone as they walked through the building — potentially an additional unknown suspect serving as lookout or someone with knowledge of the building layout,” investigators wrote in the report.
According to the report, other video surveillance in the area showed that prior to the burglary, the suspects arrived to the Casino Beach parking lot at midnight in two vehicles — a Toyota RAV4 and a Chevy Equinox.
The report states that around 4:25 a.m., “just minutes after the males begin cutting into the ATM, the Chevy Equinox pulls behind Sidelines bar, directly north east of Crabs, where it is believed to have picked up the males as their means to get away.”
Through investigative techniques, deputies were able to determine that both vehicles had been rented from a Houston Enterprise car dealer on July 16, according to the report. The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office put out an alert about the vehicles to other agencies in the region.
The report states that later on July 20, Baldwin County deputies and Mobile Police located the Chevy Equinox parked at the Econo Lodge on W I-65 Service Rd. in Mobile. Officers conducted a traffic stop, locating Smith and Winters-Fowler. They then located McGilary a short time later in a hotel room. Inside the hotel room, officers reportedly found tools seen used in the burglary.
On July 21, according to the report, a deputy with Harrison County Sheriff’s Office in Mississippi conducted a traffic stop on the Toyota RAV4 and arrested Ward and Brown. He then searched the vehicle, reportedly finding $12,288 in cash, a ninja mask, black clothing, gloves, a black ski mask and marijuana.
According to the report, McGilary was the only suspect to speak with investigators.
The report states he admitted to the group’s entire crime and gave names of all involved. He told investigators he received approximately $4,000 in cash as his share from the burglary.
Ward remains in jail on $290,000 bond, Smith remains in jail on $180,000 bond, Winter-Fowler remains jailed on $110,000 bond, and Brown and McGilary both remain jailed on $105,000 bond.