Teen charged with eight more burglaries

An 18-year-old already in jail on multiple burglary charges was charged in eight more cases Tuesday, all in the same area as the cases for which he was arrested earlier this year.

Dante Schmucker has been held at the Alachua County since mid-August in connection with burglaries committed in the Eagle Point subdivision and nearby neighborhoods close to his residence off Fort Clarke Boulevard.

Including the eight cases in which he was charged Tuesday, Alachua County court records show Schmucker is now charged in 13 burglaries.

According to the Alachua County Sheriff's Office, a commonality in many cases was that someone would steal garage door openers from cars, then enter homes in the Eagle Point area after opening the garage door. A wide variety of items were reported stolen in a burglary spree that began in July and ended with Schmucker's August arrest, according to sheriff's investigators.