CLERMONT, Fla. — An 8-year-old girl who told her dad she saw a man taking toilet paper off their front porch helped catch a serial porch thief, deputies say.
- Man facing charges after items taken from porches of 3 homes
- Carlos Adolfo Moreno Marquez facing theft, grand theft charges
- Affidavit: Girl told dad she saw him taking toilet paper off porch
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Carlos Adolfo Moreno Marquez, 34, of Clermont is facing multiple charges, including theft, grand theft and burglary, according to a Lake County arrest affidavit.
Deputies say the first theft occurred at about noon Friday on Magnolia Island Boulevard in Clermont. The resident reported to the Sheriff's Office that he had surveillance video showing that a man took a Dyson vacuum and other items off his front porch.
The next afternoon, a neighbor on the same street also reported that could provide surveillance video showing a man matching the description of the suspect in the first theft swiped an iPad case from his porch, the affidavit says.
That same Saturday, deputies who responded to a home on Lanesboro Court in Clermont. The resident reported to deputies that his 8-year-old daughter alerted him that a man took the toilet paper worth $35 they ordered off their front porch. The man was able to catch up to the suspect's vehicle and get a description of it as well as the tag number, the affidavit said.
Deputies went to the apartment of the person on the vehicle's registration, where they found Moreno Marquez, they said. Investigators said he admitted to all three thefts, and Moreno Marquez has been booked into the Lake County Jail.
Deputies said they recovered the toilet paper but not the vacuum.