Man arrested in string of church, restaurant burglaries

ST. PETERSBURG -- A man suspected of robbing churches, restaurants and food outlets was charged with 12 commercial burglaries Wednesday after a police detective found the suspect -- in jail.

Detective Doug Gaddis noticed the burglaries had stopped, and figured that the suspect must have been arrested. While reviewing photographs of recently arrested inmates, he came across a photograph of Thomas Brown, 30. Brown had a distinctive "tribal man" tattoo on the back of his head that matched a description of the burglary suspect.

- Abhi Raghunathan, Times staff writer

{Pinellas County Sheriff's Office}