HIALEAH, Fla. — A man was caught on video using a rock and a table to try to break into a Hialeah home early Monday morning, then trying to burglarize two vehicles, authorities say.
According to the Hialeah Police Department, the incident happened just after 1 a.m. in the 600 block of West 17th Street.
Investigators said a woman heard a “loud banging” and looked out her bedroom door to see a man, later identified as Jeffrey Willard Morton, 71, of Port St. Lucie, “smashing the front lock of the residence with a large rock.”
Police said Morton “then grabbed (a) small brown table (on) the front porch and used it to hit the front door of the property, causing damage to the front door deadbolt lock.”
Authorities said Morton then tried to burglarize a panel van and an SUV before officers arrived.
According to an HPD arrest report, when asked what he was doing, Morton told an officer that “he wanted a new truck.”
Instead, Morton ended up in the back of a police cruiser after being taken into custody on one count of burglary of an occupied dwelling and two counts of burglary of an unoccupied conveyance.
As of Tuesday morning, he was being held in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center with a bond listed as “to be set,” according to online records.
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