If At First You Don't Succeed, QUIT!!

Police say man broke into 22 homes

SARASOTA COUNTY - Nathaniel Redding left his home on Tuesday with a police car on his tail and a pillowcase over his shoulder.

Inside the pillowcase, according to authorities: a laptop computer with a logo for the Ringling College of Art and Design and a necklace with a pendant that says "SAMANTHA."

Redding is neither an art student nor is he a woman named Samantha -- but police say he is a prolific burglar who has broken into 22 homes in one Sarasota neighborhood since January.

Redding, 49, has been jailed in connection with two of the break-ins and detectives are trying to connect him to the rest, hoping that his arrest quiets the rash of thefts along Old Bradenton Road and Village Gardens Drive.

Since Jan. 1, thousands of dollars in jewelry, cash, computers and electronics have gone missing. Authorities say the burglar used the same tactics in almost every case -- wait until the resident goes to work, sneak in through a window or sliding glass door and rummage through dressers and cabinets looking for valuables.

Detectives caught a break last week, when they found a palm print on the kitchen sink of a home on 40th Street.

Two residents came home and saw that a screen was cut and a windowpane removed. Inside the house, in the 1100 block of 40th Street, about $50 in coins, a karaoke machine and a gold necklace were gone.

"I really hope I get the necklace back," said Judith Wilkens, a winter resident who lives there with her husband. "It was a 40th anniversary present."

The print was linked to Redding, who lives in the neighborhood. His record includes 66 arrests, 35 felony charges, 28 convictions and six stints in jail. Since the early 1980s, Redding has spent at least 12 years in a state prison. He has been convicted of 16 different felonies.

By Anthony Cormier

Published: Thursday, February 12, 2009 at 1:00 a.m.

Here's a tip for you, Nate; if you have a police record of 66 arrests for 16 different felonies, you need to find a new line of work. You suck at this one.

You couldn't even get a job in politics with that many arrests.

An investment broker, maybe. Nobody seems to give two shits about their background, just tell them that you can make them 20% on their investment.

You would think that spending 12 years in prison, you would get some pointers at how to be better at this burglary thing. I mean, breaking into 22 homes in the month of January alone is an impressive feat, but where you're falling down here is the 'getting arrested' part. You need to work on that part, dude.

"I think I got this figured out now....."