A four month investigation into construction site burglaries leads to the arrest of a Hernando man.
On Friday December 18, 2020, Marion County Sheriff’s Office Property Crimes detectives arrested Dusty Ritrovato and charged him with twelve counts of Burglary to a Dwelling, four counts of Grand Theft of a Construction Site, six counts of Grand Theft, and eight counts of Dealing in Stolen Property.
According to reports, on August 24, 2020, MCSO was contacted by a construction superintendent from the On Top of the World community to report several burglaries to construction sites.
Deputies and Property Crimes detectives then began working to identify a suspect.
Between August 24, 2020 and September 27, 2020, there were seven additional incidents reported in which a suspect burglarized a home under construction and stole newly installed refrigerators and/or dishwashers from inside.
Detectives believe the incidents are all related.
Through the use of surveillance footage provided by On Top of the World, a search of gate logs from the days of the burglaries, the watchful eyes of the community, and the hard work by MCSO detectives Ritrovato was developed as a suspect.
Ritrovato was brought in for questioning and interviewed by Detective Spratlin.
When questioned, he admitted to single-handedly committing them all.
Ritrovato also provided names of people he previously worked for and had used their names to gain entrance into On Top of the World.
Ritrovato also advised he had sold all of the stolen appliances at yard sales and online.
Ritrovato was placed under arrest and transported to the Marion County Jail.
He was released in a $123,000.00 bond.