GATESVILLE, Texas (KWTX) – A man on parole out of the Dallas area is now a suspect in a string of burglaries across Coryell County. <\/p>\n
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice told KWTX the suspect, Roger Preston Simmons, was arrested Sunday morning after he broke into at least two homes throughout the week in Gatesville. <\/p>\n
Simmons was out on parole from the Garland area for aggravated robbery. <\/p>\n
The burglaries in Gatesville were caught on camera and both victims spoke with KWTX about what they experienced. They also hope other victims will come forward so they can stack charges on the suspect with hopes of putting him away for a long time. <\/p>\n
One victim did ask to remain anonymous as she says the suspect threatened her after she made a post on a community Facebook page that picked up a lot of attention. <\/p>\n
It was all caught in 4K. Simmons is seen on Ring camera stealing $4,000 worth of items from a Gatesville home. The woman who lives there with her family says she has never felt so violated. <\/p>\n
\u201cMy jewelry box on my side table was missing so I went and looked around a little more and noticed my pistols in my side table were also gone and so was my safe,\u201d the Gatesville woman says. <\/p>\n
Her ring camera captured the moment, showing the suspect taking a laundry hamper filled with items and then later fleeing on an electric scooter.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was just the beginning, apparently, because when I started looking up more information about the burglaries in the area, he had been brought up another time with another connection to a lady in Gatesville,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n
She made a Facebook post alerting her community and it spread like wildfire. Others came forward saying they too were victims. And that\u2019s where she learned that a nearby neighbor, Dora Aponte, had also been hit. This time, he was wielding a weapon. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe kicked the door in and started looking around, then he went back outside and grabbed an axe and then went back inside the house with the axe,\u201d Aponte says. She was not home at the time but her indoor Ring cameras caught it all. <\/p>\n
He is seen escaping her house with a safe in hand that was filled with irreplaceable items that are deeply sentimental. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe had stayed out on the front porch and used that axe to bust the safe open. He took an old 22 pistol that I had, my mother\u2019s ring and a necklace filled with my brother\u2019s ashes that said \u2018My brother, forever in my heart\u2019,\u201d Aponte tells KWTX.<\/p>\n
These are unsettling for a lot of reason. For the anonymous victim, she had just left for work and typically her ten and 12-year-old children would have been home. Thankfully, they weren\u2019t at the time of the robbery. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf they hadn\u2019t been with their grandmother, I don\u2019t know what would have happened,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n
In the meantime, they both say they are waiting to see if they will ever get their belongings back and debating whether or not they feel comfortable to keep calling this place home. <\/p>\n
\u201cMy entire sense of security in the sleepy little town of Gatesville is gone,\u201d the anonymous victim tells KWTX. <\/p>\n
According to the Department of Criminal Justice, Roger Preston Simmons, 41, was released on parole in 2023 and was scheduled to be on parole through 2028.<\/p>\n
He was serving a 12 year sentence of aggravated robbery out of Comanche County. His previous offenses where he was sentenced to TDCJ include theft and burglary of a habitat.<\/p>\n
TDCJ was able to confirm to KWTX that Simmons is currently in the Fannin County Jail after a warrant was issued for his arrest on July 16. <\/p>\n
He was arrested on July 19. <\/p>\n
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