Alachua man arrested on warrant, identified as burglar in September 4 break-in

Staff report

ALACHUA, Fla. – Earthy Donell Mobley, 42, was arrested yesterday on a warrant and subsequently charged with burglary and property damage after being identified as the man caught on surveillance video during a residential break-in on September 4.

On July 12, an Alachua Police Department (APD) officer responded to Hitchcock’s Foodway in Alachua, where the manager said that Mobley, a former employee, and a woman had used a baby stroller covered with a blanket to steal meat products. A warrant for Mobley’s arrest was issued, charging him with a third or subsequent offense of petit theft, a felony.

On September 4, an APD officer responded to a report of a residential burglary in the 15500 block of NW 133rd Terrace, where the burglar broke a window to enter the unoccupied house but saw the interior surveillance cameras and fled.

When Mobley was arrested on the warrant yesterday, he was positively identified as the person on the surveillance cameras in the burglary.

Mobley has 16 felony convictions (one violent) and one misdemeanor conviction (non-violent); he has served three state prison sentences, with his most recent release in 2019. His most recent local arrest was in 2022, when he was charged with threatening another man with a machete outside the Alachua Hitchcock’s; the charges were later dropped. Judge Kristine Van Vorst set bail at $70,000.

Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.