Gainesville Police charged a local man with stealing $4.50 in quarters and a handful of bottle rockets from a parked car near Gainesville Place Apartments on Monday.
At about 3:16 a.m., Jarvis Rashad Smart, 18, ran north through the complex after a tenant noticed her car alarm blaring, its door left open and its dome lights left on, according to a police report.
The tenant said she saw someone rummage through the vehicle, according to the report.
GPD then set up a perimeter around the incident area, in the 3700 block of SW 35th Place, and found Smart walking along Southwest 27th Street shortly after, according to the report.
When officers searched Smart, they found a small black-and-white change purse containing exactly $4.50, according to the report. They also found multiple bottle rockets and a lone black glove in his shorts pocket.
Smart admitted to touching different cars, but he said he didn’t take anything, according to the report.
Police charged Smart with five counts of burglary and larceny and took him to the Alachua County Jail, where he remains in lieu of a $60,000 bond.
In April, Smart was charged with grand theft auto after police said he stole a truck from Gainesville Buick GMC, according to Alachua County court records.
