Father Alerts Austin Police To Son's Admitted Crime Spree

SOUTH AUSTIN, TX — A Houston man called police on his son, a resident of Austin, after the younger man bragged about his prolific crime spree that included allegedly breaking into 250 vehicles and stealing a police officers's Glock 9 mm handgun, according to an affidavit.

Theodis Daniel, a Houston resident, told police his son was “targeting jogging/running locations, mall parking lots and other parking lots where people leave their cars,” according to an arrest affidavit referenced by the Austin American-Statesman in a report. The younger man boasted of his ill-gotten gains during a recent video chat conversation, according to the document.

“Dad, look what I got,” Cristian Martell Daniel, 18, is said to have told his father while showing him a bag containing, among other things, an officers handgun. according to the report. The younger man displayed the stolen items as if they were trophies, the concerned parent told police as detailed in the affidavit, adding his son's criminal acts were escalating since being released from jail, according to the report.

The father turned his son in to authorities because he feared the young man might hurt someone or find himself in personal danger while in the course of his crime spree, according to the affidavit.

After speaking to the father, police tracked his son to a relative's home along the 4500 block of East St. Elmo Road, the document states. They found the suspect asleep in his vehicle, a gun that later was confirmed to have been stolen in plain view, according to the affidavit.

The man was promptly arrested and charged with theft of a firearm on April 17, according to jail records. Travis County Jail records show the younger Daniel was still behind bars as of Thursday afternoon with bail totaling $40,000.

>>> Read the full story at Austin American-Statesman

Cristian Martell Daniel booking photo via Travis County Jail records