A Miami mother and son are facing charges related to a string of car burglaries at a South Florida cemetery and day care centers, police said Thursday.
Joy Greene, 44, her son, Darin, 22, and 23-year-old Dontrel Gosha are all facing burglar charges in the theft ring, North Miami Beach Police said.
The burglaries began in February, when a woman, 23-year-old Doris Saint-Louis, went to Southern Memorial Gardens Cemetery at 15100 Northeast 18th Avenue, police said.
Saint-Louis spent a few minutes at a relative's grave site and returned to her car to find her purse, cash and other items stolen. Saint-Louis had noticed a car pull up behind her but didn't think much of it until the burglary. The other car was gone when she returned.
After Saint-Louis reported the crime, she discovered someone was forging bank checks that had been in her purse, police said.
Tombs at Miami-Dade cemetery vandalized
Then, on May, 8, police said they got a break while they were investigating a rash of vehicle burglaries at day care centers. North Miami Beach detectives were staking out the Aventura Learning Center at 2320 Northeast 171st Street when they spotted a car driving up and down the street.
According to police, the car stopped near the learning center and the driver, identified as Gosha, exited and began looking inside several vehicles belonging to parents of students there.
Gosha got back in his car and pulled up next to a car, and his passenger, identified as Darin Greene, started pulling on the other car's door handles, police said.
Detectives moved in and took Gosha, Darin Greene and his mother, who was in the rear seat of the car, into custody, police said.
When they searched Joy Greene's purse, detectives found Saint-Louis' stolen checks, police said.
Purse stolen from North Lauderdale cemetery
All three were charged with burglarizing the vehicles. Joy Greene was also charged with crimes related to the purse theft and check forgery, police said.
According to police, Joy Greene has a drug addiction and proceeds from the burglaries were being used to support her drug habit. She also had outstanding warrants for other crimes in various fake names, police said.
Joy Greene appeared in bond court Wednesday, where her bond was set at $27,500. Darin Green was being held on $10,000 bond, while Gosha was being held without bond on a warrant for driving with a suspended license, jail records showed. It was unknown whether they have attorneys.
