Crime does not pay...This is what happens in real life

Askia Holmes


Darius Berrien

I usually don't do this... but this is my blog and i do what the fuck i want to do with it.... Kids out there, dont get it twisted...Rhyming about crime is one thing...but this is what really happens. Askia Holmes was a kid i grew up with... I was good friends with his brother Omarr who died in 2008. spoke with Askia just 2 days ago...told him about doin dumbshit...he did not listen... Now he is gone for atleast 30...mabey more

By JOSH POLTILOVE | The Tampa Tribune

Published: April 8, 2009

Updated: 04/08/2009 02:45 pm

"Tampa police arrest 2 men in at least 7 home invasions"

Tampa police have arrested two men in connection with at least seven Hillsborough County home invasions in the past week.

On Tuesday afternoon, investigators arrested Askia Holmes, 24, of Brandon, and Darius Berrien, 20, of Tampa.

Among the most recent home invasions were one Thursday in Temple Terrace; another less than two hours later at Tuscany Pointe Apartments, 3350 W. Hillsborough Ave.; and two more on Friday at Tuscany Pointe.

Investigators determined Berrien was a suspect. They contacted people who know him and visited places he was known to have been.

Officers stopped his vehicle at Bearss and Florida avenues, and he was taken into custody along with Holmes. Both men had property in their possession from the Tuscany Pointe victims, and there was more property in Berrien's vehicle, police say.

Berrien and Holmes told police they committed the home invasions, police say.

Four firearms were recovered, including two used in home invasions and another stolen in a home invasion, a Tampa Police Department report states. Cell phones, computers, electronics, credit cards, identification cards and clothes also were recovered, including bandanas police say served as masks.

About 3:25 a.m. Thursday at 8980 Carriage Court, No. 224, in Temple Terrace, Jessica Valceus and Beulah Joseph were in the apartment when they heard a knock at the door. Valceus didn't see anyone through the peephole and opened the door. Two men were standing outside, one either side of the door with bandanas covering their faces, Temple Terrace police say.

"Both of the suspects then brandished firearms and forced their way into the apartment," a Temple Terrace police news release states. "The suspects demanded money and moved the victims into a bedroom, but after being told they didn't have any, demanded the PIN to Joseph's ATM card. The suspects put both victims into a closet and threatened to kill them if they moved."

Valceus later told investigators that Berrien was her ex-boyfriend and that she saw him near the front gate to her complex April 1. He was with another man in a green sport utility vehicle, she said. She told investigators she thought he was responsible for the home invasion but couldn't say why.

The people who invaded her home took a debit card, two sets of keys, a Blackberry and a cell phone. The debit card was later used at a bank on Fowler Avenue.

About 5:20 a.m. Thursday at Tuscany Pointe Apartments, a man came back into his home, leaving his sliding glass doors unlocked, Tampa police say. He was heading out of town, so he went to his bedroom to pack a suitcase.

He was approached by a person standing at his bedroom door.

"One of the suspects struck him on the face with the pistol causing a small cut on his face and demanded his wallet," a Tampa police department report states. "He left his wallet in the car and told them so."

The suspects took bank cards, a laptop and a 2006 Hyundai Sonata, and the forced the victim to give him the PIN number for debit cards, police say.

The suspects told the victim to get into a closet and stay until they were gone.

The victim later contacted his bank, which told him $100 had been withdrawn from a Bank of America at Florida and Linebaugh avenues.

About 3:01 a.m. Friday at Tuscany Pointe in Tampa, David Conklin was smoking a cigarette outside his apartment when two men approached him. They had guns, and told him to take them inside his home.

There were three additional victims inside the apartment. The suspects told everyone to get on the floor, and the men then took wallets, jewelry and cell phones. They also took Conklin's keys and his gold Honda. They also forced a woman in the apartment to strip nude, and one of the gunmen forced her onto her back in her bed, a Tampa Police Department arrest report states.

The victim, 20-year-old Emilia Luciano, said today that the men looked at her and made degrading comments but didn't touch her.

Luciano said today that she wishes she could have been able to punch the men when she identified them to police. She said she is glad the men were arrested but that even now, she doesn't like being home alone.

The day before that home invasion, Luciano said, people in her neighborhood warned her to be careful because there had been another home invasion in her area.

After the incident involving Luciano, police say, the suspects committed another home invasion within the apartment complex, ordering victim Carlos Garcia inside his apartment. The suspects made the people inside get on the floor, and they took the victims' cell phones and wallets. They also took a flat screen television.

Shortly after Friday's home invasions, a robbery occurred at Newport Square Apartments on North Himes Avenue. Witnesses left the scene before police could arrive. The suspects in that case match the descriptions of the men who committed the home invasions, Tampa police say.

Hillsborough County deputies say the men also were involved in home invasions Monday morning at an apartment complex at 1909 Coco Meadow Circle in Brandon and Tuesday morning at an apartment complex at 7648 Central Park Circle in eastern Hillsborough County.

At Coco Meadow Circle, two male suspects, who were wearing bandanas over their faces, forced their way into a person's apartment. The suspects had guns and demanded the victims give them whatever they had.

At Central Park Circle, a man tried to enter his apartment but dropped his keys. He then saw two male suspects wearing black clothes and gloves, with bandanas over their faces, coming up the steps, Hillsborough County Sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter said. One of the suspects placed a gun to the victim's head and asked who was inside his apartment. The victim's mother and father were inside. The suspects wanted to take money from people inside, but there was no money, so the suspects left the scene with a PlayStation, Xbox and a cell phone.

At 2:19 a.m. Tuesday at 7601 River Course Drive, No. 7601, in Temple Terrace, 20-year-old Randal Bullard came home from work, and two men with guns approached him. He was told to open his door, and he pounded on it so he could wake his roommate.

The men grabbed Bullard's cell phone, and one of the suspects punched Bullard twice in the mouth, police say.

Berrien and Holmes remain in Orient Road Jail. Their bail has not been set.

News Channel 8 reporter Katie Coronado contributed to this report.