Burglary suspect arrested after intensive search

An alert neighbor, knowing that residents who were out of town but live full time in a camper trailer on CR 6471, called the Liberty County Sheriff’s Office when suspicious sounds were heard coming from the trailer at about 7 a.m. this morning. Sheriff’s Deputy Lucero Castro arrived just minutes before Deputy Chance Maddox and Deputy Ryan Cavanaugh, and Castro saw the burglary suspect, who was later identified as 20-year-old Israel Allen Martinez, flee from the camper trailer and drop several guns as he fled into the nearby woods.

Both Maddox and Cavanaugh immediately called for other units, and several sheriff and constable units arrived and set up a perimeter around the wooded area. Tracking dogs were called in from TDCJ as law enforcement contained the suspect within a restricted area of the woods.

At approximately 8:05 a.m. and shortly before the tracking dogs arrived, a citizen who lives in the nearby area called the sheriff’s office dispatcher and reported that a man was on her front porch claiming he was being chased by the father of his girlfriend and needed a place to hide.

Being very suspicious of this claim and being armed, the caller inquired if the sheriff’s office wanted her to hold this man at gunpoint until deputies arrived. In short order, Pct. 2 Deputy Constable John Tucker arrived at the residence and took Martinez into custody and then turned him over to Deputies Maddox and Cavanaugh. Tucked inside the waist band of Martinez’s trousers was a .45 caliber semi-automatic pistol believed to have been taken from the camper trailer.

Israel Allen Martinez, with a residence shown to be on CR 6479 in Liberty County, was booked into the County jail on a felony charge of burglary of a habitation, as well as an outstanding warrant out of Precinct 4 for evading arrest. Other possible charges are possible, pending further investigation.