Homeless man arrested for stealing items worth over $5k from air conditioning business

Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Joshua Robert Spirit, 36, has been charged with two incidents in which items valued at over $5,400 were stolen from an air conditioning company and pawned.

On August 18, employees of Charles Berg Heating & Air discovered that items were missing from a fenced area; they reviewed their cameras and saw a white male walking around the property, but this incident was not reported to law enforcement at the time.

On August 24, employees again found that items were missing, and the cameras showed a white male, later identified as Spirit, walking from a wooded area into an opening in the fence at about 1:30 a.m. For over 20 minutes, the man walked around, using a flashlight, picking up “numerous” items and throwing them over the fence or pulling them through the opening. The items included copper wiring and a large air conditioning unit coil/radiator; the items were valued at $5,000.

After that incident, the company set up trail cameras near the opening in the fence and also asked nearby businesses for surveillance video; one business reportedly had video that showed Spirit arriving in a vehicle.

At about 3:45 a.m. on August 28, the cameras at the nearby business reportedly showed Spirit arriving in a small Toyota sedan. At 4:03 a.m., the cameras at Charles Berg show him squeezing through the opening in the fence and then stealing pieces of various metals; employees were unable to provide an exact value for the items, but the value was estimated at $400.

The trail camera clearly showed Spirit’s shoes, khaki cargo shorts, graphic tee, beard, and glasses.

A detective at Alachua Police Department (APD) has been working on a separate burglary investigation involving Spirit as a suspect, and she immediately identified the white male as Spirit, along with noting that Spirit drives a red Toyota sedan that is registered to his ex-girlfriend; the owner of the Toyota reportedly said Spirit normally drives the vehicle.

Spirit was pulled over by APD in the red Toyota on July 16, and a photo from that encounter reportedly shows the same cargo shirts and shoes that were seen in the surveillance video at Charles Berg. Spirit reportedly denied any involvement in APD’s investigation, and he was released at the scene.

The Gainesville Police Department investigation of the Charles Berg thefts reportedly found two pawn transactions in Spirit’s name: just after the August 24 burglary, 68 pounds of scrap metal were sold for $210.65. On the same day as the August 28 burglary, 53 pounds of scrap metal were sold for $195.98.

Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) and Flock cameras reportedly show Spirit’s vehicle arriving and leaving just before and after both burglaries.

Spirit, who is described as homeless in a court document, has been charged with two counts of burglary of an unoccupied structure, two counts of dealing in stolen property, grand theft, and theft. He has four felony convictions (non-violent) and four misdemeanor convictions (one violent); he has served one state prison sentence and was released in 2013. He was arrested last November after taking his 6-year-old child with him to shoplift and then leaving the child unattended when he ran from police officers; he was initially charged with child abuse without great bodily harm, child neglect without great bodily harm, resisting recovery of property by a merchant, resisting an officer without violence, and theft, but he eventually entered a plea of nolo contendere to the last three charges, served six months in jail, and was released in April.

Judge Lua Lepianka set bail at $270,000 on the new charges.

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.