A Florida man has been sentenced to 12 years in prison following a burglary where he rammed his truck through an Ace Hardware location.
According to deputies, on August 25, 2022 at 4 a.m., the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office responded to Crowder Bros. ACE Hardware in Spring Hill in reference to a report of an armed commercial burglary.
Video surveillance captured the crime and showed the suspect utilized a black pickup truck to force entry through the gated parking lot and then crash into the side of the building.
This allowed the suspect to gain unauthorized entry into the store. The suspect proceeded to steal numerous firearms and several thousand dollars’ worth of jewelry from the business prior to fleeing the area.
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District II Criminal Investigations Division (CID) detectives conducted an investigation into the armed commercial burglary. Numerous items of evidence were recovered that indicated the suspect’s vehicle was a Ford F-150, which was recovered the following day.
The vehicle was found abandoned in a wooded area within the Trillium subdivision off of County Line Road in Brooksville. Detectives were able to positively identify the vehicle due to damage observed on the vehicle as well as contents of the store being located inside the truck.
Detectives later learned the truck was reported stolen during a burglary that occurred at a residence in Spring Hill, a day before the armed commercial burglary at the Crowder Bros. ACE Hardware store. As a result of their investigation, detectives identified the suspect as Leonel Boffil-Medina DOB/12-21-1988, a former resident of the residential burglary where the truck was stolen from.
It was determined that Leonel Boffil-Medina was in the custody of the Lee County Sheriff’s Office after his bond had been revoked from an unrelated possession of a concealed weapon charge out of their jurisdiction.
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The investigation led detectives a few hours south to an address in Lee County (Fort Myers area) after witnesses observed Leonel Boffil-Medina with a firearm and jewelry, determined to belong to Crowder Hardware and the victim of the burglary where the truck was stolen.
A dual agency search warrant was executed in Lee County where additional firearms, jewelry and evidence from both crimes were located.
An arrest warrant for Leonel Boffil-Medina was authored by Hernando County detectives. He was later transported back to Hernando County charged and accordingly. He has remained in custody pending trial.
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