UPDATE: Key police arrest burglary suspects

Three men were arrested early Thursday, Sept. 29, and each charged with one count of residential burglary. But, according to Longboat Key Police Capt. Pete Cumming, additional charges are likely for Juan Antonio Houston, 23, Jeremy Le’Edwin Smith, 19, and Montel Drayton, 18, all of Bradenton.

Police are currently processing evidence from nine automobile burglaries and two residential burglaries that took place shortly before Thursday’s arrests.

“As soon as we get something back on the latent (fingerprints), we’ll have additional charges, I feel pretty certain,” Cumming said Monday.

According to a report, Longboat Key police responded to reports of suspicious individuals early Thursday morning in the residential area of Neptune Drive and found that an automobile had been burglarized. While investigating the crime, police began receiving reports of additional suspicious activity and burglaries.

Police say that they interrupted a residential burglary in process at Emerald Harbor and arrested one suspect, while two others fled the neighborhood on foot. A second residential burglary had also taken place, according to Cumming.

Agents from the Manatee County Sheriff’s K-9 and Air Watch units and Bradenton Beach police assisted Key police in tracking the remaining two suspects, who were arrested without incident in the 6800 block of Gulf of Mexico Drive.

As of Monday, Houston and Smith remained in Manatee County Jail. Bond was set at $2,500 for Houston and $1,000 for Smith. Drayton was released on $1,000 bond.

Cumming said that the automobiles that were broken into were unlocked and that the suspects were able to access the trunks from inside the vehicles.

“Obviously, we encourage people to lock their homes and their vehicles and to report anything even remotely suspicious to the police department,” he said.