Burglar hits 15 homes while wearing GPS ankle monitor, gets caught

Burglars usually wear gloves and masks, but one guy in Colorado made a more unusual choice: the GPS ankle monitor he got when he bonded out of jail.

The 27-year-old man apparently stole things from 15 different homes in a pair of Colorado cities, according to the local CBS affiliate, but was caught because, duh, he was wearing a tracking device around his leg. At one home, the man reportedly even nabbed $90,000 worth of goods.

However, prosecutors say they were able to link the man to every single one of the break-ins due to the ankle monitor. The monitors are fairly routine devices used by courts all over the country — I've watched many cases in which people were ordered to wear them — but they're usually intended to make sure suspected criminals don't flee or break the conditions of their release from custody. I've never heard a judge or prosecutor explicitly tell someone not to commit more crimes while wearing one because, naturally, that's obvious to most people.

The TV station also reports that authorities fitted the man with the monitor after they caught him stealing … a GPS navigation device. The man paid to get out of jail after being busted in that case, but evidently didn't learn his lesson.

Prosecutors weren't kind in their comments.

"I don't think that there's any doubt at all that this guy is the last guy picked on the prison Brain Bowl team," District Attorney George Brauchler told the TV station.

— Jim Dalrymple II

Twitter: @jimmycdii