The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office arrested a Homestead man on Thursday after he hit another man in the forehead with the butt of a pellet gun. However, deputies soon discovered he had committed a number of burglaries as well.
Deputies responded to a report of a fight in progress at the IHOP parking lot in Marathon, where they met with the victim. The victim told them that another man, later identified as Rafael Zavala, 18, struck him with the pellet gun as he was getting off of a ladder. The victim ultimately required several stitches.
According to the report, the victim works for a roofing company that was doing a job on the self storage yard on 63rd street. The victim had recently become aware of several storage units being robbed when he noticed men from another roofing company place a fishing rod in the back of a car, at which point he began to take photos of them. Noticing what the victim was doing, the other men told him to come down off the roof and “handle this like men.”
The victim descended the ladder to speak to them, but as soon as the victim’s feet touched the ground, Zavala struck him with the butt of the pellet gun and then ran away. Another witness verified this narrative, according to the report.
Deputies detained Zavala, and he admitted to striking the victim and also showed the deputies where he threw the pellet gun.
After being arrested, a manager from the storage yard saw Zavala speaking with the deputies. He recognized Zavala as the man who carried several items from the buildings a few days prior. He reported this to deputies. Zavala admitted to stealing several items from the storage units and then selling most of the items to a “guy in Miami.”
Zavala is being charged with four counts of unarmed burglary, one count of grand theft, one count of larceny with a victim over 65, and one count of aggravated assault. He was transported to the Plantation Key jail, where he is being held on a $55,000 bond.
Information in the Crime Report is obtained from reports provided by area law enforcement agencies.
If you have information that could help solve a crime in the Florida Keys, call Crime Stoppers, 800-346-TIPS.