Authorities have charged a 68-year-old Jacksonville resident, Arthur Virgil, in connection with a series of burglaries impacting over a dozen businesses, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Arthur Virgil III is currently facing multiple burglary charges after allegedly targeting numerous local establishments in a crime spree.
Virgil was taken into custody on October 21, though law enforcement had been searching for a suspect matching his description for several weeks prior.
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office responded to a burglary incident at Toscana Little Italy in Miramar during the early hours of October 9. The front door had been smashed with a concrete block, and cash was taken from the register. This wasn’t an isolated incident in the area. JSO reports that security footage captured a man, identified later as Virgil, using the same concrete block to break into I & C Cleaners minutes earlier, where money was also stolen.
Throughout their investigation, the police tracked a vehicle suspected to be involved in these crimes. This led them to the same vehicle departing a fresh burglary site on October 21. At New Dragon, a Northside Chinese eatery, officers discovered the glass shattered and the cash box missing, according to JSO.
Officers apprehended Virgil as he was leaving the scene, finding New Dragon’s cash box in his vehicle. The arresting officer noted that Virgil was wearing the same attire seen in the surveillance footage from the I & C Cleaners burglary.
“As our detectives investigated, they continued to receive reports of similar break ins at family-owned spots across the city,” the agency wrote on social media.
First Coast News has requested the new, additional arrest reports to clarify which other businesses police believe he burglarized.
Court records show that this is not the first time Virgil has been charged with such crimes. In 2010, he was found guilty of three burglary charges and sentenced to prison. JSO described them as being “smash-and-grabs” similar to these incidents.
Virgil is scheduled for his next court hearing on Nov. 25.
