DUI stop leads to arrest in burglary

Maricopa police arrested a man early Friday morning on suspicion of burglary after he had been cited in connection with a DUI the night before in the same neighborhood where the alleged break-in occurred.

Police spokesman Sgt. Stephen Judd said a homeowner in the Lakes at Rancho El Dorado called police around 3:30 a.m. Thursday morning to say she could hear someone in her house and had locked herself in a bedroom. At the residence on the 41600 block of West Elm Drive, officers found a broken rear window and a TV set on top of a lawnmower in the yard. A news release stated it appeared someone attempted to use the mower to wheel the TV away from the house.

“When other officers were coming into the area, they noticed a vehicle that was leaving the neighborhood and they made a traffic stop,” Judd said.

He said officers determined the driver, Maricopa resident Jamie Michael Pierce, 32, was intoxicated. Pierce denied any involvement in the suspected burglary and was cited and released on suspicion of misdemeanor DUI.

“Nothing was found connecting that vehicle or person to the burglary” during the DUI investigation, Judd said.

However, afterward officers in both cases shared information with each other. Based on the discussions and evidence found at the house, police believed Pierce might be involved in the burglary attempt.

“This morning, they interviewed the subject, confronted him with some of the evidence they collected at the scene and he admitted to being the one that committed the burglary,” Judd said Friday afternoon.

The release stated Pierce thought the home was vacant at the time and fled when he heard officers approaching. He was rearrested on suspicion of second-degree burglary and booked into the Pinal County Jail in Florence.

Photo submitted by the Maricopa Police Department