Deltona Car Break Suspect Leaves Pizza Trail Of Clues For Responding Deputies

Date Added: October 28, 2021 10:44 am

Andrew Gant
Office of Public Affairs & Media Relations

DELTONA CAR BREAK SUSPECT LEAVES PIZZA TRAIL OF CLUES FOR RESPONDING DEPUTIES

A pizza-eating suspect responsible for a pair of car break-ins in Deltona was arrested Wednesday after deputies followed a trail of evidence including red sauce on the door handle of one vehicle, and a pizza box and plates left behind near another one.

When deputies found Dewey J. Smith, 38 (DOB 5/24/1983), walking down the street in another neighborhood, he was still carrying the victims’ credit cards and IDs.

The victims reported the car breaks around 7:30 a.m. Wednesday on Jefferson Avenue. Responding to the first call, deputies found the car’s center console open and glove box rummaged through, and the victim’s wallet missing. There was also what appeared to be marinara sauce on the inside handle of the driver’s side door.

A few doors down the street, deputies noticed an empty pizza box at the scene where another car break occurred. Missing from that vehicle was a 9mm handgun and an old concealed weapons permit.

As deputies conducted a neighborhood canvass, they spoke to a neighbor who reported an acquaintance, Dewey Smith, had stopped by a couple times overnight, including one time asking if she knew anyone looking to purchase a firearm. He was also carrying a white grocery bag containing credit cards and gift cards, and wanted her to call a phone number to check the balance on a gift card. She refused, but she said earlier in the night, Smith did take some of the Little Caesar’s pizza she’d ordered. She said she’d thrown away the pizza and the box, and Smith took it out of the garbage.

Meanwhile, it was discovered the stolen credit cards were used in the overnight and early morning hours at three Deltona gas stations.

Later, when deputies found Smith walking on Twin Oaks Street with the victims’ cards still in his possession, he told deputies, “You got me red-handed.”

Smith was charged with armed burglary of a conveyance, burglary of a conveyance, four counts of fraudulent use of credit cards, grand theft of a firearm, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, theft and dealing in stolen property. He was taken to the Volusia County Branch Jail where he remained in custody Thursday morning on $71,000 bond. The stolen handgun was not immediately located.