LUFKIN, TX (KTRE) -
An
Angelina County grand jury indicted a 42-year-old Lufkin man, the suspect in
the door-kick burglaries, on eight counts of burglary of a habitation on Jan.
31. A burglary of a habitation charge is a third-degree felony.
Corey Lee
Fleming, 42, is still being held in the Angelina County Jail on eight burglary of
a habitation charges, a parole warrant for manufacture/delivery of a controlled
substance, and two misdemeanor traffic charges. Collectively, his bond has been
set at $1.22 million.
The three
most recent burglary charges are for crimes committed on Aug. 20, Aug. 25, and
Sept. 26 of 2012. On Aug. 20, a Lufkin Police officer was dispatched to a
residence in the 400 block of River Oak. According to the police report,
Fleming allegedly entered the home through the back door into the garage and
partially ransacked it. He allegedly took an estimated $12,285 in jewelry.
During
the course of the investigation, Fleming was arrested as he was allegedly
fleeing the scene of another burglary. After LPD detectives obtained a search
warrant for Fleming's residence in the 1900 block of Pineburr Street, they
found several items of jewelry that were identified by the victim, including a
gold pocket watch she had given to her husband years before.
On Aug.
25, the Lufkin Police Department was dispatched to a home in the 100 block of
Hemlock Street, where the home owner told the officer about a burglary that
occurred on Aug. 18. On that date, the home owner locked herself in her bedroom
after someone allegedly broke into her home. She managed to climb out the window
before the suspect kicked in the door to her bedroom. Nothing was found to be
missing at that time.
"Officers
also noticed that the phone box on the outside of the home was broken and all
of the phone lines had been pulled apart," the arrest affidavit stated. "This
is the same method of burglaries observed by officers in two other home
burglaries on Oleta Street the night before."
However,
when the woman returned to her home on Aug. 25, she found that her residence
had been burglarized again. The back door of the house had been kicked in and
the suspect had allegedly rummaged through the drawers in the bedroom. One
chest of drawers and a red jewelry box were found in the home's backyard.
The
victim gave LPD detectives a list of the missing jewelry, including several
custom-made rings, a pair of earrings, and a pendant. As was the case with the
previous burglary, the victim identified several pieces of jewelry that Lufkin
PD detectives recovered from Fleming's residence.
LPD
officers investigated a similar burglary at a residence in the 200 block of
Maplewood on Sept. 26. At the time, it just appeared to be a case of criminal
mischief; the victim reported that someone had pulled out her phone and alarm
lines, but it didn't look like the suspect had entered her home. At the time,
Lufkin Police officers responded to two similar burglaries in that neighborhood
that had occurred around Sept. 26. The woman called the next day, and told LPD
officers that someone had pried open her patio door and taken several items of
sentimental family jewelry, including her dead husband's wedding band and a
gold necklace with a cross pendant. The gold necklace with the cross pendant
was recovered when Lufkin Police detectives searched the residence.
According
to the arrest affidavit, Fleming's girlfriend allegedly pawned numerous items
taken during the various burglaries in Lufkin and Houston. According to the
three arrest affidavits, the woman told police that she didn't know the items
were stolen.
Fleming
is also the suspect in similar burglaries that occurred on Montclair Street,
Summerset Drive, York Drive, and Templewood Lane. The burglaries occurred
between Sept. 9 and Nov. 2. of 2012. Jewelry taken in those burglaries included
a high school football championship ring belonging to former Lufkin High School
football standout Reggie McNeal, a former Cincinnati Bengals player who is
currently a free agent with the Canadian Football League.
Lufkin
Police officers arrested Fleming on Nov. 6, 2012, after a witness spotted him
in the yard of a Champions Drive residence. Although Fleming allegedly fled on
foot, the LPD established a perimeter and stopped Fleming's 2001 Mercury
four-door car in that area.
"Fleming was
sweating profusely, his shoes and pants were wet from contact with the wet
grass and shrubbery, and he refused to cooperate with the officers," an
LPD press release stated.
Copyright 2013 KTRE. All rights reserved.
Corey Fleming (Source: Angelina County Jail)
