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Man accused of breaking into Coral Gables assisted living facility, stealing thousands in cash and other valuables

Suspected burglar targeted Coral Gables assisted living facility, police say
Suspected burglar targeted Coral Gables assisted living facility, police say 02:37

MIAMI — A man was arrested this week after police said he was allegedly responsible for committing a series of burglaries that targeted elderly residents at an assisted living facility.

Coral Gables Police said they have arrested 27-year-old Jermaine Clifford McClain on three counts of burglary in an occupied dwelling and two counts of grand theft. According to Coral Gables Police Officer Natalie Flores, McClain is from out-of-state and is wanted in other states for a variety of crimes.

Residents shared their reactions with CBS News Miami, with one saying she was very frustrated when she learned about what happened.

"I think they need to do something about this, about the security," said resident Ruth Caruthers. "This shouldn't happen ever."

When asked if she felt safe at her building or seen security around her building, Caruthers said "Not really."

"My feeling is they should let us know," she said. "They shouldn't just hide it, which is apparently what they're doing — they're hiding that fact and that's not good."

CBS News Miami has tried talking with the facility's management, but they did not want to be on camera and said they're still trying to find out how McClain entered the building.

The investigation

Last Thursday, Coral Gables Police was called out to the Grand Living located at 363 Granello Ave. Upon arrival, officers spoke with the facility director, who said that an unknown man had burglarized multiple apartments before running away.

According to the arrest warrant, the director told police that the man — later identified as McClain — was first seen entering a third-floor apartment that belonged to one of his female residents. Police then spoke with the woman to find out more about what happened.

The woman told police that around noon, she had finished eating at the facility's dining area on the first floor and then went to her apartment. She said that she was able to access the locked apartment with her key and said everything "appeared to be normal" inside. After using the restroom, the woman said she then went for a walk around the third floor, locking up her apartment before she left.

About 45 minutes later, the woman returned to her apartment and tried to unlock her door; however, it wouldn't open. As she continued trying to get inside her apartment, she felt that the door "pull inward as if someone inside had opened it," the arrest warrant said. Once she was able to open the door, she saw McClain standing in her doorway. According to the arrest warrant, McClain told the woman that he was "fixing the lights in her apartment" and claimed to be a maintenance worker before casually leaving her apartment without further incident.

Once inside, the woman then noticed her bedroom light, which was turned off when she left, had been switched on and her bedroom furniture drawers were opened. The woman then told police that she remained inside her apartment and then heard McClain allegedly knock on her next-door neighbor's door multiple times. At this moment, the woman realized that her gold-silver Rolex was missing from her nightstand and then pressed the alarm on her emergency pendant to alert her caregivers about the incident.

According to the arrest warrant, the woman told police she had no scheduled maintenance appointments at the time and that no one other than her had access to her apartment.

"He posted as a maintenance worker and claimed he was changing a lightbulb while the elderly individual entered, and soon after she realized he was not a maintenance worker and she didn't have any requests," Flores told CBS News Miami.

However, there were no signs of forced entry nor did McClain have any identification or uniform that would validate his claims as a maintenance worker.

As the woman was waiting for facility staff to respond, her neighbor and her caregivers were entering the apartment next door. According to the neighbor, she had always kept her door unlocked for staff. However, when they arrived, she and her caregivers witnessed McClain open her apartment from the inside and walk right past them "as he pretended to talk on his cellphone," the arrest warrant said.

The neighbor and her caregivers were immediately alarmed and began asking McClain multiple times who he was and what he was doing inside her apartment. But, McClain didn't stop to talk and continued to leave the third floor via the elevator. Despite being inside of her apartment, the neighbor said nothing appeared to have been taken.

The neighbor's caregivers then used their radios to call another staff member on the first floor about the incident, hoping to catch McClain before he left the building. The first-floor caregiver watched McClain leave the building through the dining hall's exit before allegedly running across Granello Avenue and cutting through another building's passageway leading to Ponce de Leon Boulevard.

The first-floor caregiver followed McClain and found him sitting on a bench near 4535 Ponce de Leon Blvd. before he walked toward a black Chevrolet SUV, jumped inside of the right-rear passenger side and drive off eastbound toward Ponce Circle. The first-floor caregiver told police that she was able to get a picture of the license plate but couldn't figure out who was driving the SUV. After that, the first-floor caregiver rushed to the facility director and proceeded to call the police.

Despite the facility not having interior cameras, the facility director provided police surveillance video from outside that showed McClain leaving the building around 12:56 p.m. — nearly an hour after burglarizing the first woman's apartment.

After further investigation, Coral Gables Police realized that the SUV had belonged to an Uber driver, who told them that he had picked up McClain after responding to his ride request around 1:09 p.m. The Uber driver told police that once inside his vehicle, McClain had allegedly opened up some white envelopes that contained U.S. currency inside before showing the money to the Uber driver and asking him to be his "personal driver for the day," the arrest warrant said. The Uber driver told him "no" before driving him to and dropping him off at the YVE Hotel on 146 Biscayne Blvd about 20 minutes later.

Meanwhile, Coral Gables Police met with the manager of the building across the street from the Grand Living and obtained its security video, which allegedly showed McClain waiting on the bench for his Uber before driving away.

The next day, Coral Gables Police had learned from the facility director that a third apartment had been allegedly burglarized by McClain, this time belonging to a male tenant living on the fourth floor. Officers then contacted the man's nephew, who said that five white envelopes containing U.S. currency totaling $3,491 were stolen from the top drawer of his nightstand, the arrest warrant said. The man's caregiver learned that the envelopes were missing when she went to get money from them to take him to the grocery store. 

Coral Gables Police then went to the YVE Hotel and met with its managers to review their security video, which allegedly showed McClain being dropped off around 1:30 p.m. the day before. McClain is then seen allegedly entering the hotel and going up the elevator and to his room. After further investigation, it was revealed that McClain had allegedly checked into the hotel around 11 a.m. the day before -- nearly two hours before the reported burglary -- and wearing the same clothes during check-in as he did during the burglaries.

Then, Coral Gables Police learned that McClain had allegedly checked out of the hotel around 11 a.m. the day after the burglaries and was once again seen wearing the clothes he wore in other videos.

Following a records search, Coral Gables Police were able to confirm McClain's identity by locating his social security number, North Carolina driver's license and FBI number. He was then arrested.

Coral Gables Police believe this is not the first incident and if anyone recognizes McClain, they could contact the authorities immediately.

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