North Miami Beach Fitness Club Burglars Busted

Two men are in custody for breaking into a car at a North Miami Beach fitness club, and now police are investigating whether the pair are responsible for several similar crimes, authorities said Tuesday.

Christopher Anthony Scott, 26, and Shawn Larcell Roberts, 21, were arrested on Sept. 27 following a car burglary at the Planet Fitness at 1630 Northeast 162rd Street, North Miami Beach Police said.

The department's street crimes unit had been conducting surveillance at the gym's parking lot after there were multiple car burglaries at fitness clubs in the area. The Planet Fitness alone has experienced 22 vehicle burglaries in the past 8 months, police said.

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During the surveillance, the officers spotted Scott and Roberts pull into the parking lot in a rental car. Scott got out of the car, walked up to another vehicle and used a screwdriver to break into the car and glove box, police said.

The burglary took less than one minute, police said. The pair began to drive off but were stopped by police and arrested.

A search of the vehicle turned up personal items from the car that had just been burglarized and property from another car burglary at a local nursing home, police said. Detectives also found a stolen .45 caliber handgun that had been taken during another Miami-Dade car burglary.

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The pair are "being aggressively investigated by several local agencies experiencing similar type crimes," police said in a statement.

Police said these types of car burglaries, where people leave valuables behind in their vehicles, are steadily increasing, as is the use of rental cars by criminals during these crimes.

Both Scott and Roberts were charged with burglary, grand theft and criminal mischief, and were being held without bond on previous warrants, jail records showed. It was unknown whether they have attorneys.

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