A 29-year-old Gulf Breeze man was arrested for Burglary and four counts of Larceny after he allegedly broke into his own neighbor’s home last month and stole a gun, several pieces of sports memorabilia and a credit card.
During a nearly month-long investigation, law enforcement officials were able to positively ID the suspect, Kyle Kochelek, in security camera footage, which showed him using the stolen credit card at numerous area businesses.
According to the arrest report, law enforcement was dispatched to a condominium on Quiet Water Lane in Gulf Breeze back on Dec. 15, 2016 in regards to a burglary.
When law enforcement arrived, they met with the victim who stated he came home that day and noticed that a number of items missing from inside of his condo.
The victim stated he only left his home for about an hour that morning and returned to his home where he noticed his closet door in his first floor game room was open. Items were left out of place, according to the report, and there were several items missing. The victim later determined that he was missing 5 autographed baseballs from his office. One baseball was autographed by Nolan Ryan, valued at $500. Another baseball was autographed by Brandon Backe, and was valued at $10. There was also a missing autographed Tyler White baseball card, valued at $10. The victim could not remember who was on the other two autographed cards, but determined they were roughly $10 a piece.
Along with his autographed baseball cards, a Glock 23 was missing from under the victim’s pillow. The gun was valued at $600, the report stated. The report indicated that a credit card was also taken from the home.
The law enforcement officer later spoke with a witness who claimed they saw a white male wearing a gray hoodie walking across several of the victim’s neighbors’ docks around the time the victim was away from his condo. They stated the man looked to be in his early 20s.
The suspect later attempted to use the stolen credit card at a local Walmart, but the transaction was declined. Law enforcement was eventually able to obtain video of the suspect using the credit card. The suspect tried to purchase several items, including a gift card at the Walmart, and since the transaction was aborted, Walmart kept the gift card. Eventually, fingerprints were pulled from the gift card, and they came back positive as Kochelek’s.
When law enforcement viewed the video footage inside of the Walmart, the suspect (who was unidentified at the time) was spotted on camera attempting to purchase the nearly $400 in items from the store. The video footage later showed the suspect entering a Honda Element.
Law enforcement eventually spoke to one of the victim’s neighbors who was positively able to identify the individual who drove the Honda Element—the victim’s neighbor.
The suspect later went to a gas station and purchased gas. Video footage from the gas station was able to capture the suspect’s vehicle tag, which came back to Kochelek.
Based on all of the evidence collected, a warrant was drawn up for Kochelek, and he was arrested last Tuesday and placed behind bars in Santa Rosa County Jail. He was later given $25,000 bond.
Kochelek remains behind bars as of press time.
According to Santa Rosa County Jail View records, Kochelek has no prior arrests in Santa Rosa County.
