PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. —During a break-in at a medical center in Port St. Lucie, a thief stopped to charge his phone.
On Thursday, police charged 56-year-old James Matthew Weltsek with burglary, theft, and criminal damage.
The investigation began on February 22 when police were called to Convey Health Solutions/Liberty Medical on US Highway 1 in response to a break-in warning.
Police say that someone broke in just after midnight and stole snacks from the staff break room.
The security video showed that a bald guy in dark shorts, a red shirt, a dark jacket, and white tennis shoes got into the business through a fence along the back yard.
Police said that the man got through the bars to open the gate to the patio.
Once on the porch, cops say the man put a pair of boxer shorts on a chair and then plugged his phone into an outlet.
Police said that a few seconds later, the man “aggressively” pulled on the magnetic lock on the breakroom door until it opened.
Police say that once the man got inside, he helped himself to snacks and then left the area.
At 1:47 a.m., the police said, the same man came back again. As cops collected in front of the complex, the man went back through the patio door, opened the magnetically locked door, grabbed more snacks, and left. A security guard was inside the building at the same time, but he didn’t know about the earlier break-in.
Police said that the suspect damaged the breakroom booth to the tune of about $280 and stole about $5 in cash.
A few weeks later, on April 4, about 15 minutes before midnight, a security guard told cops that he saw a bald man sneak through the back patio gate and force his way into the employee break room. The security guard called 911, but by the time police came, the thief was gone.
The CCTV video was looked at once more by the investigators. The guy in the video looked like the thief who broke in before.
The next day, the cops gave out flyers with a picture of the thief and asked people if they knew him.
A group of people at a gas station on US 1 told cops that the man’s name is “Jimmy,” that he drives around in a golf cart, and that he lives with his mother in a nearby retirement community.
When the police looked into the tip, they found that James “Jimmy” Weltsek had been arrested many times in New York and Florida. Weltsek was arrested in New York for, among other things, theft, criminal mischief, burglary, assault, robbery, and possession of stolen goods.
Police said that he had been arrested in Florida for stalking, trespassing, criminal mischief, battery, and having drugs in his hands more than once. Police said Weltsek also bought a lot of tools, gold, and money from pawn shops.
