Attorney Musca Comments on Chain of Deadly Home Invasion Robberies
Delmer Smith III is being held for a month's long string of home invasion attacks on middle-aged and elderly women including the fatal beating of a woman in Terra Ceia in July. Authorities said that Smith is responsible for one of the most violent crime sprees ever in the region.
Authorities say that Smith is responsible for 12 violent home invasions in Manatee and Sarasota counties over a number of months last spring and summer, which included the murder of Kathleen Briles. Briles was the wife of a prominent Palmetto physician.
Smith came to Florida with a lengthy criminal record in Michigan. He faced criminal charges for stealing a car in Detroit before being arrested three years later for a Detroit area bank robbery. Smith was sentenced to 15 years in prison for the bank robbery. Smith moved to Florida after his release on the bank robbery conviction to be with the woman who he wed in a jailhouse ceremony during his incarceration.
However, Smith was also having a series of extramarital affairs. It was one of his mistresses, a 34 year old North Port woman, that was instrumental in his arrest for the spree of robberies. Smith was arrested for his involvement in a violent fight in a Venice bar in August. While in custody, Smith asked his mistress to remove all of his property, which included a .380-caliber pistol, from a storage facility according to federal arrest reports. During one of the telephone conversations while Smith was in custody, he told his mistress, "You never got anything from my storage, he said in the recorded phone call. "You don't know anything about my storage."
Investigators later discovered items that were taken from Briles home during the robbery amongst the items in Smith's storage including a rare Mickey Mouse keychain, diamond necklace, gold coins and an inscribed medical encyclopedia. DNA also linked Smith to 4 of the Sarasota County home invasions. According to authorities, Smith's cell phone signal was recorded on a tower about a mile from Briles home a short time before the robbery. "The presumption of innocence applies despite the public's fear linked to the home invasions," said criminal attorney John Musca.
Smith is currently being held in Sarasota County Jail without bond. Smith has also become a main suspect in several other cases including a murder on Jo-An Drive in April according to Sheriff Tom Knight.
Musca Law Firm has over 100 years of combined legal experience with convenient offices located across the State of Florida. Our criminal defense team will aggressively defend your rights on the State and Federal level. The prosecution is looking to punish you to the fullest extent of the law. You need a knowledgeable attorney that will watch out for you. Contact Musca Law for a free, comprehensive review of your case.
