Police link South Bend man to several burglaries and home invasions

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- South Bend police are labeling 22-year-old Aaron Lee Smith as a career criminal. Police believe Smith is responsible for several home invasions, burglaries and armed robberies that span all across Northern Indiana into Chicago.


After months of investigating, South Bend police have now linked the 22-year-old to two seperate home burglaries on the city's South side.


South Bend's burglary unit started the investigation after a rash of burglaries around Miami Hills Apartments and investigators suspect it was all Smith's doing.

 

"As the burglary unit detectives often say, if you can connect them to one then they have probably done many and it appears he had a criminal enterprise both here and in Chicago," says Capt. Phil Trent with the South Bend Police department.

 

Before that, Smith was no stranger to a jail cell. In 2007 Smith was arrested for residential entry and possession of marijuana.

 

Then, three years later, Smith was back behind bars for criminal trespassing and again later that year for aggravated assault after he stabbed a man near Miami Hills Apartments.

 

"We are looking at numerous burglaries, two for sure, and perhaps home invasions and street robberies," says Trent.

 

In Febuary and October of this year, Smith was arrest for two different burglaries. It was not long before police were then able to link him to two different burgarlies on the South side after he made off with electronics and expensive lawn mower equipment.

 

Since then detectives have been working leads to connect him to other crimes, including some home invasions and some of the recent pizza delivery robberies.

Although Smith is believe to be a possible suspect in the recent armed robberies where pizza delivery drivers were held up at gunpoint. Police say the robbers' descriptions were too vague and working with those victims to help them identify who attacked them.

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