Westside Burglars Lose Keys, Get Caught

JACKSONVILLE, FL -- Two men are under arrest for burglary, largely because they lost the key to their getaway vehicle.

Jacksonville Sheriff's Officers were responding to a burglary alarm at a pest control company on the Westside when another alarm went off nearby at the Airgas building on West 5th St.

According to the police report, when the officer got to Airgas, he saw several broken windows, a truck loaded with tools, and two men by the front door.

The men told the officer they had just run off two men who were breaking into the place, but the direction they said the men ran was where the officer had come from, and he didn't see anything.

While searching the men, the officer found gloves, which one of the men said he used for work, but couldn't say when he last worked.

Another officer came to the scene, and the officers arrested Kyle Lee Chambers, 20, and Joshua Glenn Stephens, 21, both from Jacksonville.

Chambers told police Stephens had picked him up, and they drove around looking for businesses to break into because Stephens said he needed money for his probation fees.

Chambers said they first kicked in the door of the first business, but got scared when they heard the alarm, so they went to Airgas and smashed through the windows.

Once inside, Chambers said, Stephens began handing power tools out the window to Chambers, who put them in the truck.

Once they had the truck loaded, Chambers said they tipped over the cigarette butt bins looking for cigarettes to smoke, then went to the truck to leave.

Chambers told police Stephens then noticed that he had lost the truck key, so he tore off the steering column and tried unsuccessfully to get the truck started.

After that, the two men started looking on the ground for the key, and that's when the police officers showed up.

Chambers and Stephens face charges of burglary to an unoccupied structure and grand theft of a motor vehicle. The truck they were in was stolen.

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