A stolen electric bicycle equipped with a GPS tracker apparently did more than lead Marion County deputies back to the bike. According to arrest affidavits, it helped lead detectives to approximately 90 pounds of residential wiring and a Summerfield man now accused in a string of thefts from new construction homes.
Ellis Curtis Lynn Jewell Jr., 32, was arrested Aug. 20 after Marion County Sheriff’s Office detectives executed a search warrant at his home on SE 41st Terrace in Summerfield.
The investigation tied together three cases spanning less than two weeks: two construction sites stripped of electrical wiring and an e-bike stolen from outside the Dallas Inn Bar on U.S. Highway 301.
The first reported wire theft occurred Aug. 7 at a new construction home on SE 139th Street. Deputies reported dozens of wires had been cut from the walls and breaker box of the garage sometime overnight. The stolen wiring was valued at approximately $1,400.
Investigators soon noticed another remarkably similar case less than a mile away.
On Aug. 12, deputies responded to a new home under construction on SE 135th Lane, where newly installed electrical wiring had also been cut from the walls. That wiring was valued at approximately $1,500, according to the affidavit, with more than $1,000 in additional damage needed to replace and rewire the home.
Then came the bicycle.
A man reported his red Hidoes electric bicycle stolen after leaving it outside the Dallas Inn Bar on Aug. 17. Surveillance footage allegedly showed a man wearing dark clothing, combat-style boots and a hat taking the bicycle from the sidewalk.
There was one problem for whoever took it: the owner had hidden a Samsung SmartTag GPS tracker underneath the seat.
The following morning, the owner told deputies the tracker was pinging near Jewell’s residence on SE 41st Terrace. An anonymous tip later identified Jewell and his girlfriend, Billie Jo Green, and accused them of committing thefts in the Summerfield area and selling stolen property on Facebook Marketplace, according to investigators.
By Aug. 20, detectives had obtained a search warrant.
Inside the residence, they reported finding the stolen e-bike in a bedroom, along with approximately 90 pounds of residential wiring. Investigators described the wire as cut at both ends, coming in multiple colors and sizes and appearing consistent with wiring recently pulled from new construction.
Some of the wire had been stripped from its sheathing and tightly coiled into piles. Detectives also reported finding small bolt cutters, handheld snipping tools and razor blades in the same bedroom.
Investigators compared the seized wire with photographs from the construction sites and said the sizes and colors were consistent. In one case, detectives said spray-foam insulation visible on wiring at the construction site was also found on wire recovered from the bedroom.
Green told detectives Jewell would frequently leave the residence on an e-bike during the early morning hours and return carrying wiring, sometimes between 1 and 4 a.m., according to both construction-theft affidavits.
As for the stolen bicycle, investigators reported finding clothing in the bedroom matching what was worn by the person shown in surveillance footage from the bar.
Jewell allegedly told detectives he found the bicycle in the woods about half a mile from his home while walking with Green. He denied ever going to the Dallas Inn Bar and said he did not know where the bar was.
Green reportedly gave investigators a somewhat different account, saying Jewell brought the bicycle into their bedroom one night and told her he had found it along the road near a bar.
When the bicycle’s owner arrived to reclaim it, deputies said the bolts securing the seat had been removed and the GPS tracker was no longer underneath it.
When questioned about the large quantity of wiring found in his bedroom, Jewell reportedly told detectives he did not have receipts for it. Asked where it came from, his answer was considerably shorter.
“No comment.”
Jewell faces burglary and grand theft charges stemming from the two construction-site cases, along with a separate grand theft charge in connection with the e-bike.
In this case, the wire may have been cut, but investigators say the trail connecting the cases was anything but.
