Dequan Johnson is a career criminal. So why can't we keep his sorry a** locked up?

That's 32 year-old Miami Gardens resident Dequan Antonio Johnson pictured above.

Miami Beach Police arrested him earlier today and charged him with a string of 14 burglaries at various Beach hotels.

From the Miami Beach PD press release:

Sergeant A.J. Prieto, Detective Alsina, Detective Reid and Detective Henson conducted surveillance and tracked Johnson to the Aventura Mall where he was taken into custody. Johnson confessed to committing fourteen burglaries in the City of Miami Beach. The burglaries were to hotel rooms and apartments. Some of these burglaries were occupied and on several occasions Johnson was confronted by the victim.

Johnson was charged with eleven counts of Burglary and twelve counts of Grand Theft. Due to this arrest the following jurisdictions will be able to clear burglaries committed by the subject: Sunrise Police, Miami-Dade Police, Coral Gables Police, Sunny Isles Police and Palm Beach Sheriffs.

So, while Johnson off the street for the foreseeable future, a question that remains unanswered is why he was even walking the streets in the first place.

Johnson, who was born in 1980, has been living a life of crime since 1997. That's as far back as the Clerk of the Court records go. We don't know what crimes he committed as a juvenile.

Click here to enlarge.

The Florida Department of Corrections website shows that Johnson has done three stretches in state prison for various offenses committed in the tri-county area. He was last released from prison on March 19, 2011.

Miami Beach Police spokesperson Bobby Hernandez credits Johnson's takedown to a "classic case of police/media/citizen co-operation."

Johnson's undoing began last Monday.

That's when Miami New Times posted a story of two Brazilian tourists who lost designer goods, money, luggage and phones last June 8 when "a six-foot-two black man" nonchalantly waltzed into their suite at the Miami Beach Resort and Spa as it was being cleaned, and walked out with their stuff.

A few TV stations picked up the story and Miami Beach police released surveillance video of a 310-lb. Johnson walking out of the hotel with the Brazilian tourists' luggage.




After Johnson's image appeared on the news, it wasn't long before someone called Crimestoppers and ratted him out.

Beach police were able to track him down at Aventura Mall earlier today.

This afternoon, Johnson is safely tucked away at the Turner Guilford Knight facility in West Miami-Dade - a place he's visited before on numerous occasions. Hopefully, this time, he'll be there for a while.

Dequan Johnson Hotel Burglary Arrests by Random Pixels blog