Man arrested for burglary after allegedly prowling around the same house multiple times

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Daniel Taylor Gordon, 41, was arrested Friday morning after surveillance camera photos posted on Facebook led to his identification.

The victims reported that surveillance cameras at their home near the intersection of NW 8th Avenue and NW 18th Street showed a man arriving on a bicycle just after midnight on July 22. The camera showed the man parking his bicycle in the carport and turning off the lights on the bicycle, then looking at the surveillance camera, waving at the camera, and giving it a thumbs-up before walking out of its view.

Another surveillance camera picked up the man entering the screened pool enclosure behind the house and opening a door that led into a sauna. He walked around for a while longer before returning to the sauna and remaining in it for about 20 seconds before returning to the carport. He then tampered with the surveillance camera, and it stopped recording.

Following that incident, a resident of the home discovered that the camera had been removed from its mount, and the camera was reinstalled.

At about 2:20 a.m. on July 31, a man looking similar to the first man arrived on a bicycle, turning off the bicycle’s light as he dropped his bicycle on the front lawn. The man appeared to be aware of the camera and hid his face with a cloth as he walked up the driveway. He walked directly to the camera and pulled it down, but it caught a brief shot of his face before it was removed and stolen.

The next day, the victims posted the photos of the prowler on the “Gainesville Word of Mouth” Facebook page; Gordon was tagged by one commenter, and he responded, saying he was the man in the first photo but not the second one. He said he had to pee, so the victim responded with a picture of him standing at the open sauna door, asking sarcastically if he was looking for the bathroom. Gordon replied that there was a pandemic going on, and he was looking for a hose to wash his hands. The Gainesville Police Department officer who wrote the report noted that there was a swimming pool right beside the man, where he could have washed his hands, and also that hoses are typically attached to the exteriors of homes, not inside doors.

Gordon was arrested at his home and refused to speak post Miranda. The officer noted that records show that Gordon appears to have lived at the victims’ home about 20 years ago.

Gordon has been charged with two counts of unarmed burglary of an unoccupied building and one count of petit theft (the surveillance camera). He has no recent criminal history and has been released.

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.