MARION COUNTY, Fla. – The Marion County Sheriff's Office arrested eight teens Tuesday for three separate unrelated crime incidents across the county.
Deputies said it is typical to see an uptick in crime over the summer months because school is not in session.
The first incident involved two 17-year-olds and a 16-year-old who were arrested for stealing a hooka pipe and jewelry from a home on Bahia Loop.
Two female teens, a 15-year-old and a 16-year-old, were arrested for driving a stolen car to a Walmart store on North Williams Street.
Deputies said the pair in the second incident allegedly stole the vehicle from a home in Inglis, Florida.
A trio -- two 16-year-olds and a 17-year-old -- burglarized a home on SW 78th Court and gained access into the home by using the garage door opener that was in the victim's car parked outside the home. The trio stole two laptops, deputies said. The group was arrested as they were leaving the home.
The homeowner said the teens came up into his driveway, shuffled through his cars and then used the garage door opener to get inside his home.
Johnnie Mayhan said when he woke up in the middle of the night to get a drink from the fridge in his garage, that's when he said something was off.
"I noticed the garage door was up, the light was on and I was like, that's unusual," Mayhan said.
Mayhan said he went inside and asked his son if he left the garage door open, but he didn't.
"I looked over and I noticed, and I was like, 'Oh, no. Both my laptops are gone,'" he said.
He immediately called 911.
"Before I could get two sentences to the dispatcher, a cruiser came up right by my mailbox and said, 'Hi Mr. Mayhan. We got them,'" he said.
Deputies told News 6 that they were already on the juveniles' tracks after several home and car break-ins in the area. Investigators said they stole whatever they could get their hands on, such as electronics and golf carts.
"We had three separate instances where we had a total of eight juveniles arrested for felony charges," said Lauren Lettelier, of the Marion County Sheriff's Office.
Detectives said they connected the crimes to a group of teenagers with the help of surveillance video and witness interviews.
"I thought there were three of them, but apparently there were eight of them. That means you had eight youngsters that needed something to do beside doing something illegal," Mayhan said.
Nelson Severando Ferguson, the 17-year-old in the group, was charged with 23 felony counts for other burglaries and grand theft auto of golf carts.