HIALEAH, Fla. – Detectives are warning the public about a fugitive they consider to be "armed and dangerous." The 37-year-old man has a "GYPSY" tattoo above his left eye.
Detectives believe Ricky Mitchell was part of a trio who was targeting vulnerable women ages 80 to 91 in Hialeah on Saturday and then vanished, according to the Hialeah Police Department.
Sgt. Carl Zogby was asking residents to "never open the door for strangers" and "immediately call 911 if you spot these suspects or any other suspicious incident."
Mitchell was traveling with a man in his 50s, and a thin woman in her 30s, Zogby said. They were in a white Chevy 3500HD pickup truck. Police officers responded to three burglaries on Saturday afternoon, which detectives later linked to the same three suspects.
In the three incidents, "they knocked on the front door or approached the victims in their front yard," Zogby said. The woman was the one distracting the victims.
Their first burglary was at a home west of Interstate-95 near Northwest 103rd Street. They took $20 from an 83-year-old woman. An hour later, they hit a home nearby at West Eighth Avenue. They took a gold earring from an 80-year-old couple. The victims of the third burglary were ages 91 and 86. The trio took $650 in cash.
Mitchell is wanted for a violation of his probation in California, where he has a criminal history. He also has a criminal record in Illinois.