LONG BEACH : ‘Good Samaritan’ Held as Suspect in Burglaries

Jerry Jacobs was the good Samaritan. Every time he witnessed a store burglary in Long Beach, he dutifully went to the business the next day and reported what he saw. And the business owners, ever so grateful, rewarded him.

But Long Beach police working a rash of commercial burglaries noticed a pattern. Jerry Jacobs always seemed to be around during a burglary.

On Friday, police said that Jacobs’ real name is Larry Dwayne Mitchell, and that his fingerprints match those found at the scene of at least four of the burglaries. After he was arrested on suspicion of burglary, Mitchell confessed to more than 40 commercial burglaries, according to Long Beach police.

“Mitchell stated that he would return to the location the following day, contact the owner or manager and ask if they had been burglarized. He then advised them of ‘what he had seen’ and was always rewarded with money for his information,” police said.