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Cops: Notorious Orange County teen burglar taken off streets

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Orange County deputies said they've taken a notorious teen burglar off the streets Monday.

Deputies said D'el Jackson, 16, was arrested at the Tymber Skan apartments near Texas Avenue.

They said Jackson is a career criminal and has been breaking into homes since the age of 9.

Law enforcement officers were called out to the apartment complex for another situation early Monday morning, and one of the deputies said he recognized Jackson as someone who had three active warrants.

Authorities said Jackson ran into an apartment and crawled into an attic.

Deputies surrounded the building to try to get Jackson to come out. They launched tear gas into the attic, and deputies said Jackson eventually crawled down into a neighboring apartment. The owner of that unit allowed deputies to go in and grab him.

Deputies said Jackson had burglary warrants for his arrest. They estimated he's pulled off hundreds of burglaries in the Pine Hills area and Osceola County, starting when he was 9 years old.

"This particular individual has been arrested for burglary probably more than 100 times, and he's 16 years old. So, he was wanted for three more burglaries and he just committed another burglary to hide from us," said Orange County Sheriff's Office Sgt. Neil Mitchell.

Deputies said when Jackson was 9, he was burglarizing homes in Pine Hills, and then hit Osceola County, along with a couple of other areas.

Recently, deputies said Jackson has been breaking into units in the Tymber Skan complex almost nonstop.

WFTV ran him through the Florida Department of Law Enforcement system, but since he's a juvenile, nothing came up.

Deputies on the scene were originally taking a burglary report from Caisha Anderson when they spotted Jackson.

"He's only 16 years old and they decided to bomb the house 'til he come out, so it's just been crazy," Anderson said.

Jackson is facing charges for the three burglaries he was already wanted for, and deputies said he is facing another burglary charge for his Monday morning antics.

Follow Jeff Deal on Twitter at @JDealWFTV for live updates from the scene.