The Convict Chronicles

The Gumball Bandit

Some time in February of 2004 we had a rash of burglaries that I called "The Bubble Gum Caper". Someone was going around town (and surrounding cities) breaking into businesses and stealing the bubble gum machines from inside the businesses. It was strange because they would take nothing else but the machines. And some of these businesses had a lot of cash and other valuables available on the premises. But since most businesses place gum ball machines right next to their front doors I figured that these thieves found it smarter just to break a glass door and walk in a couple of feet and walk out with the gumball machine.  After a few days we would get a report from the outlying county jurisdiction that they had found the gumball machines somewhere thrown by the side of the road or in a canal. The machines would have all the money missing of course. In a period of about 2 months we had had about 25 local businesses broken into in this manner. Some of these machines taken had only a few dollars in them but others carried several hundred dollars in quarters. It was obvious that this was the work of one or two (some of the machines were huge) drug addicts that were after a few dollars for their next fix. We started referring to the whoever was doing this as "The Gumball Bandit".

I was working these particular burglaries and another set of regular house burglaries when I first met John David Smith also known as JD. I went to a house of a known local burglar named Bob whom I figured could have committed the crimes, or at the very least might know who did. When I went Bob's house I found JD now lived there also. JD was a young 24 year old good looking kid. He had dark black slicked back hair and dark eyes that literally shined. And he had a gift for talking. I mean he sounded like a car salesman every time he talked. You didn't even have to accuse him of anything and he still sounded like he was trying to convince you that he did not do anything. Well JD and Bob fit the bill of the type of people I was looking for. They were both addicts and had no means of income to support their habit. I questioned them about both sets of burglaries but they both denied any involvement in the burglaries. As far as the bubble gum machine burglaries John thought it was hilarious that anyone would do that and he doubted their was enough money in them to make it worth while. I told him that there was a lot of money. I explained to him that the last machine taken had over 250 dollars in quarters in it.  JD seemed very surprised but said, "Hey I might be a drug addict but I ain't no thief". 

A few days after that there was another bubble gum machine theft. This time they had broken into the small  lobby of the local "Oil Can Harry's"  business and had taken 2 machines. But unlike the other times the thief had hurt himself. There was blood everywhere. Too much blood not to get treated by a doctor. I immediately went to the hospital and walked into the emergency room and made contact with the suspect who was  a local burglar by the name of Omar Garza. He had nearly cut his wrist off breaking the glass door. After treatment we took him to our office where he confessed to all of the burglaries of the machines. We went to his house and found dozens of bright colored gumballs scattered all over the front lawn. The suspect plead guilty in court later and was sentenced to five years in jail. The Gumball Bandit had been captured.

About 9 months later it started happening again. I checked on the Gumball Bandit and he was still in jail. After about 2 weeks we had about 7 businesses that had been broken into and the machines taken. But this time we were not getting reports of the machines having been found empty and abandoned somewhere so whoever was doing this either found a good spot to hide them or was keeping the machines. I was busy with a major home invasion case so the "Gumball Bandit 2" case was given to someone else. Surveillance was done for weeks but the gum ball bandit hit 15 more businesses in a 3 week period without getting caught. After I finished my case I went to the investigator in charge of the case to see how it was going. He had no leads and none of the machines had been been found. I asked him what he thought was going on and he said he did not know. He said it was a copy cat type case so it had to be someone who knew the original gumball bandit. But he had checked out every one on that list and everyone  checked out okay. So I told him, "well if it wasn't someone who knew the original one then it was someone who learned about him some how." I couldn't believe my next thought. JD Smith. JD knew about him because I had given him every detail of the case months earlier. I told the investigator to come with me and he hopped in my car and we went to JD's house. I went to the front door and knocked and no one answered. No one answered the back door either but JD's car was in the drive way. I looked in through passenger's side window and there it was. One big bright red gum ball. Cherry flavored. My absolute favorite. I went back to the house and knocked for another 10 minutes until finally Bob answered the door. I asked if i could come in and he said yes. He said JD was asleep in his room. I sat in the living room and as I talked to Bob I saw it all. On the coffee table there were 3 large candy bowls with gumballs, boston baked beans candies, and M&Ms with peanuts. On the shelves there were literally hundreds of those bright colored bouncy balls and stacks and stacks of assorted stickers. On the floor was a large cardboard box with hundreds of those clear plastic balls with small toys in them. On the very top was one with a small toy set of handcuffs in it. I picked it up. I told Bob he was under arrest and to take me to JD. He took me to the room where JD was and JD was on the bed pretending to be asleep. I threw the plastic ball with the plastic handcuffs in them at his head and said "hey here put these on". He got up and said "okay okay". Later we found 19 machines stacked up in one of the rooms and a bag with 200 dollars worth of quarters in it. He admitted later that he got the idea to steal these machines from me. I arrested both JD and Bob for the crime but in court Bob took the big brunt of it. Bob got 5 years and JD got 2 because JD talked Bob into taking most of the blame.  I guess he was a thief after all.  JD got out in about a year and hit the streets to become an addict again. I would see him once in a while. Every time I saw him I would call him Gumball Bandit just to piss him off. It got so all the guys at the PD got to know him that way and made fun of him when they saw him on the street. He really hated the name. 

In 2007 we had a murder at a local convenience store called "Rosie's". Police were called out one night at about 10:40 p.m. and found the clerk dead with a gunshot wound to the head. The victim's name was Michael and everyone liked him. He had worked at the store for about 4 years. He still lived with his mom and gave his mom most of his paycheck from that cashier job. He had absolutely no enemies.  There was 104 dollars taken from the cash register. There were no witnesses or much evidence left behind. The bullet that had ripped through the Michael's head, however,  was a black talon 357 magnum. Not your average bullet. A few blocks from the store was a known crack house where several crack heads went in and out every day to smoke their drugs. It was, lacking any other leads, the best first place to go to investigate. We hit it and found many of the usual local drug users in it and all of them were questioned. No one had seen or heard anything but all of them were usual customers at the store. JD was one of them. I questioned him and he denied any knowledge of the murder but stated he would keep his ears open for me. I said, "Okay, see you later Gumball Bandit." He said for me not to do that because it still pissed him off when I did that.  He also said, "I may be an addict and a thief , but I am not a murderer" .

A couple of days later one of our local fireman came to the police department to talk to me. He stated that he had just heard about the murder and wanted to let me know that his older brother was a crack head who lived in a small trailer next to the crack house we had searched. He stated that about a month ago his older brother was robbed so he loaned him his 357 magnum for protection. He stated that he also gave him 11 Black Talon bullets.  He said he went by his brother's mobile home  just now and the gun was there. He said he checked it and it was very clean.

I went to the mobile home and recovered the gun. I could only find 9 of the bullets. I arranged to have everyone at the crack house and the mobile home park polygraphed. Everyone came in and everyone (including JD) passed the polygraph. After the polygraph I spoke to JD and he told me that he thought this other guy named Gilbert could have committed the murder. He said Gilbert who was there at the crack house the night of the murder could have been involved, but that Gilbert had disappeared to Georgia. JD kept playing with something in his pocket as he talked and I asked him what it was and  he said it was some change. I asked him to show it to me and he pulled out his hand with a bunch of change in it...along with a single Black Talon bullet. He tried to talk himself out of it but it was no use. He knew I knew he was lying. He started crying. He confessed to going to the store with Gilbert to go rob it. He said he borrowed the 357 Magnum pistol from the old man's trailer without him knowing about it. He said he and Gilbert went to the store and he was the lookout. He said he saw Gilbert shoot Michael in the head and they both took off in Gilbert's little green truck. He said they took the money and bought some crack. He said he cleaned the gun and put it back with out the old man knowing.

Later I confirmed much of what he said. We found surveillance video from a motel across the street which showed a small green truck pull in to the store at the time of the murder. The video was too far away to identify the people in it but both did get out of the car. One stood as look out and the other went in the store. I also located a drug dealer who confessed to me he delivered 70 dollars worth of crack to JD that night. He said that was so rare because JD never had any money. Another witness reported seeing JD with latex gloves (which we found) that night cleaning what he thought was a big silver pistol. JD's girlfriend also reported that the night of the murder he called her and told her to bring him some fresh clothes because he had gotten his dirty. She said when she took him the clothes he gave her 20 dollars, and that was rare because he never had money. 

I charged JD with Capital Murder. I also later tracked Gilbert down in Georgia and he also confessed to what happened. In his version of events JD shot Michael in the head. 

JD told me told me during his confession that he was most upset because Michael did not deserve what happened to him. Michael was a nice guy and would often give him and the other guys stuff on credit and they would come by later and pay him.  He cried about Michael. But that didn't stop him from spending the money that night.  Both JD and Gilbert plead not guilty and went to trial. Both were found guilty and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Both appealed the case and lost. During trial JD's sister was there every day. I never knew he had a sister.  At the punishment phase she showed up with 5 beautiful little boys. They were JD's sons. I never knew he had kids. It turns out the mother was in jail in another state and the sister had custody. They looked like such fine little gentlemen.

I remember putting JD in the police car that was transporting him to the county jail after his arraignment. I told him "I guess you were a murderer after all?" He said "Yeah, I guess. But I sure wish I could just be the Gumball Bandit". Now that name didn't bother him so much. I said, "Yeah, I wish that too".