Doofus Of The Day #44

Here's a tip.

If you're going to steal people's stuff . . . don't try to sell it in the same neighborhood.

In particular, don't put it out on the roadside and hold a yard sale!

The McAteers, who live in Ocklawaha, arrived at the home in Ocala in the 800 block of Southeast Fifth Street on Monday and discovered it had been burglarized.

They left and returned Tuesday morning and called police. They then decided to walk around the neighborhood to see if they could find anyone who might have some knowledge about the break-in.

When they walked up to a five-unit apartment building, they saw their wooden dresser sitting on the front lawn.

They called the Ocala police again, and detectives arrested 22-year-old Branden Mitchell Gardiner and charged him with one count of residential burglary and one count of dealing in stolen property.

Gardiner, who lives at 621 Wenona Ave., was handcuffed after detectives obtained a search warrant for the apartment. He refused to comment while being led to a patrol car, other than to say he did nothing wrong.

Neighbors seem surprised.

"I saw him selling the merchandise over the weekend. He said his family gave it to him, and he was planning to have another yard sale this weekend," said Allen Parsons, who lives directly above Gardiner.

Parsons told the Star-Banner that he heard Gardiner telling potential buyers at the yard sale that he had "more stuff," if they wanted to buy it, and showed them the goods photographed with a cell phone camera.

While waiting for investigators to serve the search warrant, the McAteers saw some jars that appeared to belong to them sitting on Gardiner's small front porch.

Later, they were asked to identify other items.

At least this particular doofus is now behind bars, where he belongs.

Peter