MARTIN COUNTY, Fla. — The Martin County Sheriff's Office arrested two teenagers after reports of 20 vehicle burglaries last Wednesday morning along MacArthur Boulevard and Northeast Plantation Drive.
Both suspects were booked into the Martin County Jail.
Bond was set at $57,500 for the 18-year-old man, Anthony Joseph Bastista, of Stuart. The 14-year-old boy from Hobe Sound was transferred to the Department of Juvenile Justice.
They each face 23 felonies, including 13 counts of burglarizing a vehicle, one count of possessing burglary tools, one attempted grand theft and eight additional attempted car burglary charges.
The affected cars were locked and smashed.
The pair used a window punch to break windows of cars and trucks parked in private driveways, parking spaces and in beach parking areas, according to MCSO. They stole anything of value and if nothing was found, they left behind shattered glass and damage.
Using exterior cameras, MCSO detectives and found what appeared to be a scooter traveling in the area at the time the crimes occurred. MCSO tracked the scooter to a parking spot on Northeast Edgewater Drive in Stuart, and that ultimately led to the suspects.
Batista was driving the scooter with the minor riding on the back the night they committed the multiple burglaries, MCSO said.
MacArthur Boulevard is the roadway used to travel to the House of Refuge Museum and Bathtub Beach.
If you live in the area of the burglaries and you discovered that your vehicle was burglarized in the morning Wednesday, you are asked to call Martin County Sheriff’s Office at 772-220-7000.
"No one in Martin County should feel unsafe or uncomfortable parking their car in their own driveway at a park or the beach for fear of being burglarized," MCSO posted on Facebook. "Please use this as a reminder to remove all valuables, especially firearms from your vehicles at night