Published: June 10, 2009 11:53 am      

UPDATED: SUSPECTS LINKED TO 100+ BURGLARIES, SAY POLICE

Dixie County men nabbed - with help from LCSO

Four Dixie County men have been linked to the burglaries of 100 or more homes in Suwannee, Columbia, Lafayette, Taylor, Dixie, Gilchrist, Levy, Madison and possibly Hamilton counties, according to Lafayette County Sheriff Brian Lamb.

Michael Christopher Hackle, 27; Cody Eugene Pridgeon, 23; Dwayne Mertz, 38; and Allen Lynn Thomson, 36, are now being held at the Dixie County jail, Lamb said.

Untraceable items, such as gold, coins and jewelry were targeted, Lamb said.

Many stolen items were sentimental in nature. Lamb said the sheriff's office is working to retrieve these items.

On Wednesday, June 4, at about 5 p.m. Lamb was contacted by an alert homeowner who gave him a vehicle description and a partial tag number of a suspicious vehicle. Shortly thereafter, Lamb responded to a burglary call that was similar to others that had occurred previously in the county, according to a Dixie County Sheriff's Office press release.

The following day another homeowner called in a vehicle description similar to that given the previous day. The partial tag number was run by Deputy Randy Henderson substituting letters in place of the missing character and shortly thereafter a match was found.

Within an hour, Lamb was contacted by Captain Chad Reed of the Dixie County Sheriff's Office and was advised that two burglary suspects were in custody there. Reed said the men had recently burglarized a Dixie County home and had been stopped at a nearby roadblock. The suspects' vehicle, which turned out to be registered to Hackle, matched the vehicle description and tag number that Lamb and Henderson had retrieved.

Dixie County deputies believe that the two suspects, Pridgeon and Hackle, were involved in the burglary in their county as well as crimes in Lafayette County. Both men have been charged with burglary and grand theft.

According to Lamb, the accused only broke into residences when no one was home. Hackle and Pridgeon would approach seemingly empty houses, knock on the door, and break in if no one answered. Police received the partial tag number after an alert homeowner answered Hackle's and Pridgeon's knock at the door and felt they were acting suspiciously. The homeowner then decided to record the tag number.

On June 5, Lamb and Henderson met with Reed at the Dixie County Sheriff's Office to further assist with the investigation. This led to the execution of two residential searches and the arrests of Mertz and Thomson on charges of dealing in stolen property. Mertz and Thomson knowingly bought stolen gold and jewelry from Hackle and Pridgeon, authorities say.

The investigation is continuing with additional charges and arrests expected. Authorities believe the suspects are likely responsible for 100 or more burglaries in the North Florida area.

Assisting in the investigation are the Lafayette, Dixie, Levy, Taylor, Suwannee and Madison County sheriff's offices, the Third Circuit State Attorney's Office and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.