Boys hide in closet until burglars are arrested

By Karen Voyles
Sun staff writer


Published: Friday, July 11, 2008 at 10:49 p.m.
Last Modified: Friday, July 11, 2008 at 10:49 p.m.
A quick-thinking 15-year-old is being credited by Levy County deputies for the arrests of two men during a home burglary.


Officials said the teenager and one of his friends may also have been spared injuries by the teen’s quick actions.


The incident happened at 7:49 a.m. Friday at a home in the 11500 block of NE 115th Avenue. The teen and a friend were alone inside the house when the teen heard a knock on the door.


The teens said that as the two men forced their way into the home, the teens hid in a closet with a telephone and called 911.


The men began ransacking the house, deputies said, grabbing jewelry and other items, which they were in the process of trying to remove from the home.


But deputies reached the rural home first, within eight minutes of being dispatched, said Levy County sheriff’s spokesman Lt. Evan Sullivan.


The deputies arrested one suspect inside the home; the other suspect ran from the scene but was arrested a few minutes later, Sullivan said. All the items believed to have been taken from the home were recovered, Sullivan added.


Sullivan said the teens did the right thing by not challenging the intruders and by calling 911 immediately.


“This had the potential to turn out very differently,â€