A convicted sex offender is in jail after he became a suspect in a pair of burglaries of the Lawton Public Schools Maintenance Yard.
He also hadn’t registered his offender status and lived close to a city park, which violates the sex offender residency status.
Robert Michael Galindo, a.k.a. Robert Paletears, 36, of Lawton, made his initial appearance Tuesday in Comanche County District Court where he received six felony charges: two counts of second-degree burglary, failure to register as a sex offender, larceny of a motor vehicle, sex offender living within 2,000 feet of a school and knowingly receiving, concealing and/or withholding stolen property, records indicate.
Investigators identified Galindo as the suspect in burglaries on July 5 and July 12 at the LPS Maintenance Yard, 1901 W. Lee after he tried to steal the ill-gotten goods via Facebook Marketplace, the probable cause affidavit states. Multiple tools and a Ford F-350 pickup were taken from behind the gated fence.
Investigators learned on July 14 that Galindo was trying to sell a magnetic drill press stolen from the yard on Facebook Marketplace. In one photo, LPS was visible on the box, the affidavit states.
A controlled buy was set up for an apartment at 1212 SW D and he was arrested for outstanding warrants. His girlfriend, who was at the home, also had an outstanding warrant and both were taken to the police department for interviews, the affidavit states. The girlfriend said she saw two boxes Galindo had brought to her place but had no knowledge they were stolen.
Galindo admitted to squeezing through the gate on July 5 and stealing what he could by carrying it, according to the affidavit. He also admitted to the July 12 burglary and of breaking into the welder’s shop where he found a truck key. He put more tools in the truck and admitted to driving it through the fence and parking it down the road from his girlfriend’s, according to the affidavit. He said he’d sold most of the tools to support his drug habit, police said.
Galindo said he stays at the girlfriend’s often even though he knows he shouldn’t due to being a sex offender; investigators learned he had never registered as a sex offender in the City of Lawton, the affidavit states.
Records indicate Galindo has a January 2010 felony conviction in Tulare County, Calif., for lewd acts with a child.
A search warrant was conducted on the apartment and detectives found other stolen tools from LPS along with mail identifying Galindo as living there, the affidavit states.
Galindo, who is being held on $100,000 bond, returns to court at 3 p.m. Sept. 18 for his preliminary hearing conference.
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