An Odessa man was arrested on burglary charges this week after an Ector County Sheriff’s deputy caught him hiding in the closet of an occupied home he was suspected of entering.
Ricky Lee Duralia, 37, was arrested on suspicion of burglary of a habitation, a second-degree felony. Duralia, 779 W. 26th St., was being held Wednesday at the Ector County Detention Center on bonds totaling $65,000. Duralia also had an active arrest warrant for possession of a controlled substance, a state jail felony.
Dispatchers received a call at 5:40 p.m. Tuesday about a burglary in progress at West 12th Street home. The homeowner told sheriff’s deputies she arrived to find clothes not belonging to her strewn on her front porch, and also saw a window screen removed, the sheriff’s office reported.
The homeowner then entered her home and saw some of her belongings out of place and believed she spotted someone hiding under some clothes in a closet, prompting her to step outside and call 911, sheriff’s authorities said.
Deputies arrived, went inside the West 12th Street home and found a suspect, later identified as Duralia, who was detained and then arrested. Duralia reportedly gave sheriff’s authorities a fake name but was identified as Duralia, and reportedly had three checkbooks, a tablet belonging to the homeowner and a car key and an insurance card, the sheriff’s office said.
Sheriff’s deputies also found a fleet fuel card belonging to Phoenix Fleet Services. While deputies were investigating the burglary call they also received a separate call of an abandoned vehicle that was reported stolen by the Odessa Police Department about a block away from the burglarized home on West 12th Street, sheriff’s authorities said.
Sheriff’s deputies learned that the key and fleet cards reportedly found in Duralia’s possession belonged to the stolen vehicle, the sheriff’s office said.
