Stolen protective gear and iPads stolen from Palm Beach County Fire Rescue have been found and returned, officials say.
Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office detectives arrested Dori Smith, 46, for burglarizing fire rescue emergency vehicles.
Firefighters at the PBCFR Station Station 22 off Seminole Pratt Whitney Road discovered equipment missing from two trucks on April 21.
A few days later, a woman reported to PBSO that Dori Smith might be behind the burglary, an arrest report states.
Her boyfriend returned the stolen iPads to the fire station. He told PBSO that she said she burglarized a fire truck and the missing bunker gear was still lying along a fence line at the station.
"It is protective equipment for firefighters when we go into burning buildings," Palm Beach County Fire Rescue Captain Albert Borroto told WPTV shortly after the burglary.
Investigators found a cut in the metal fence around the station and located the stolen bunker gear, flashlight, gloves, respirator, and hand sanitizer.
Records show the stolen items were worth more than $2,000.
Smith’s brother reported her “bragging about committing the burglary and said she had gotten away with it,” a detective wrote in the report.
Deputies arrested Smith on May 9. She’s facing charges of burglary and grand theft from an emergency vehicle.
