GPS ANKLE MONITORS DO NOT DETER WEARERS FROM COMMITTING CRIMES

Three men wore GPS ankle monitors while burglarizing dozens of homes

By Wayne K. Roustan

South Florida Sun Sentinel
August 18, 2020

HOLLYWOOD — A group of thieves behind the burglaries of nearly 30 homes couldn’t have been easier to find: They carried out the heists while wearing ankle devices that pinpoint their locations, police say.

The burglars “committed these crimes while already on pretrial release for previous crimes and while wearing court-ordered GPS ankle monitors,” said Hollywood police spokesman Officer Christian Lata.

More than $150,000 in cash, an AK-47, a Smith & Wesson handgun, cellphones, iPads, jewelry, designer handbags, ammunition, blank checks, fraudulent debit and credit cards, and a stolen vehicle were among the items seized by authorities, documents show.

Zion Odain Denvor Hall, 21, Tyrek Davontae Williams, 19, and Tremaine Raekwon Hill, 18, are “believed to be a part of a criminal organization committing burglaries, armed burglaries, fraud, gun thefts and other criminal acts throughout South Florida,” police said Tuesday.

The three men, who were arrested Friday, face charges of burglary, grand theft and racketeering. Hall is currently facing 35 counts, while Williams and Hill are facing 25 and 19 counts respectively. They were taken into custody while under house arrest awaiting trial on unrelated charges.

It’s not the first time South Florida has seen people accused of committing crimes while wearing GPS ankle monitors. The devices are used to keep track of people who’ve been freed from jail on bond.

Last year, two men wore the devices while killing a man in Fort Lauderdale, police said. Also last year, a man cut off his ankle monitor and vanished after being accused of raping a co-worker while on a job in Coral Springs, police said.

In the Hollywood cases, additional charges and arrests may be forthcoming, authorities say.

Hollywood and Margate police, the Broward Sheriff’s Office and the Florida Attorney General’s Office are conducting a joint investigation.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Many state parole agencies, like the one for Texas, rely mainly on GPS ankle monitors for the supervision of parolees.  That is why parole is no longer worth a shit.

The monitors only serve as evidence after the wearers have been caught committing crimes, including murder, because they will show that the parole violators were at the location of the crimes when they occurred.