MELBOURNE, Fla. — On December 29, 2011, Melbourne police officers responded to a business burglary at Paradise Pawn shop located at 606 North Wickham Road at 4:04 A.M. When the police arrived, they discovered the front doors were broken out and items had been stolen.
At 6:06 A.M., Melbourne police responded to another burglary alarm at a business named Funky Buddha, located at 830 North Wickham Road. Upon arrival, the police discovered yet another front door had been broken out with entry made to the front foyer of the business. The suspect could not defeat a second security door and fled the scene without obtaining any property.
Melbourne Police Officer Dennis Higgins made contact with a suspicious person at 3012 Fountainhead as a back up officer for an officer going off duty. Officer Higgins obtained this person’s information, and feeling his story was not forthcoming, investigated further.
Officer Higgins went to both businesses that had been burglarized and viewed the surveillance videos. Upon review, Officer Higgins believed that the suspect he stopped was the same individual who had committed the burglaries despite the suspect’s change of clothing and attempts to conceal his identity.
Officer Higgins brought this information to the Melbourne Police Investigative Division where Detective Bill Williams was assigned to work with him on the investigation. Detective Williams had Officer Higgins review evidence from other business burglaries in the Wickham Road corridor.
Upon review of the evidence of the other burglaries, Officer Higgins was able to make a positive identification of the suspect for a business burglary that occured at The Taste Of India restaurant, 606 N Wickham Road, on November 6, 2011. He further concluded that the suspect matched a burglary suspect from Dustin’s Restaurant located at 411 North Wickham Road that had occurred on December 10, 2011.
Officer Higgins and Detective Williams went to the suspect’s residence located at 728 Ridge Club Drive to speak with the suspect. During the investigative interview of the suspect, Detective Williams was able to obtain admissions to all four burglaries and the recovery of stolen property from various businesses involved.
Defendant: W/M Timmothy Killian Rabidou
DOB: March 16, 1993
Address: 728 Ridge Club Drive
Melbourne, Florida 32935
Charges: 4 counts Business Burglary
2 counts Grand Theft
2 counts Criminal Mischief