By Robert Stanton | January 4, 2013 | Updated: January 4, 2013 6:29pm
chron.com

As far as burglaries go, it was about as routine as they get — except for the outcome more than two years later, investigators said.

A Katy-area resident called Fort Bend County sheriff's deputies in April 2010 after someone broke into his unit at the Broadstone Apartments, walking away with credit cards, a TV, jewelry and a gun, said Bob Haenel, spokesman at the Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office.

Deputy J. Delgado dusted several items for prints, including a jewelry box that was left on the bed by the suspect. Investigators entered the fingerprints into a national database used by law enforcement agencies, but no match could be found, Haenel said.

But that was then.

On Dec. 27, 2012, Stafford police officers arrested a 25-year-old suspect on charges of burglary of a habitation and evading detention. When the suspect, Jerson Joel Martinez, was booked into the Fort Bend County Jail and his fingerprints were taken, the 2010 burglary case suddenly came back to life, Haenel said.

"It's one of those CSI moments where these (TV) networks really live up their billings," he said. "That fingerprint has been sitting there for one and a half years, and finally, thanks to some good work from one of our deputies in getting that positive match, we get to close this case on this guy."

Martinez, who is from Honduras and is in the United States illegally, now faces an additional charge of burglary of a habitation in connection with the April 2010 case, Haenel said. He was being held on Friday in the Fort Bend County Jail under a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement hold.

Prints lead to break in burglary case 2 years later - Houston Chronicle