Man Arrested Following Vehicle Break-Ins

A man suspected of breaking into vehicles in New Port Richey and taking the contents was arrested Wednesday morning after a search by law enforcement officers.

Late Tuesday night, New Port Richey police officers received reports of a man breaking into vehicles in the 6000 block of Indiana Avenue, according to New Port Richey police officers.

The man rode a bicycle to neighborhoods from Indiana Ave and the 6000 block of Congress Street, according to a media alert from the police department. He smashed vehicle windows and took car radios, purses and other personal items.

At one point, it was assumed he was in the Community Hospital area, and the police Pasco County Sheriff’s deputies a set up a perimeter there. A police canine was called but couldn’t sniff the suspect out.

The police then got calls about two more vehicle break-ins, this time at Gulf High School. The victims chased the man east on Cecelia Drive. A civilian grabbed him but let him go when he told the person he was armed with a knife.

A New Port Richey corporal eventually found the man in the 5000 block of School Road. The man had a backpack with the stolen items, along with brass knuckles and a knife.

Arrested was Joseph Jusaviour Rich, 20, most recently of 11615 Manistique Way, in the Moon Lake area.

The police charged him with: four counts of armed burglary, one count of trespass on school grounds, one count of criminal mischief, two counts of carrying a concealed weapon (one for the knife and another for the brass knuckles), one count of felony criminal mischief, one count of trespass on school grounds, one count of possession of burglary tools with intent to commit a crime, one count of loitering and prowling and one count of resisting arrest without violence. He also had at least one warrant out for his arrest from another agency

Rich was last arrested July 28 on a grand theft motor vehicle charge and then released on bail August 1. He has been identified as a member of the “Bloods” gang in the past.