HOUSTON --
An off-duty law enforcement officer spotted something out of place and acted on it.
Deputy Ralph Riley's move saved his neighbor from becoming a burglary victim, and he may have cracked a burglary ring.
Riley said he saw a Ford F-150 pickup truck pull up at his neighbor's house near West 43rd and Rosslyn Road. The driver unlocked the gate and started unloading items from the house.
"I told him I was with the sheriff's department and asked him why was at the residence," Riley said. "He told me that he lived here."
Riley said he knew the man was not telling the truth. He said he told the man he was a sheriff's deputy and ordered him to the ground.
"I just held my weapon on him and kept ordering him to stay down," Riley said.
Riley also pulled his SUV into the driveway to prevent the man from leaving.
Another neighbor came home for lunch and called 911 while Riley held the man.
"He'd clearly done this before," the neighbor said. He had plenty of TVs and purses and liquor bottles and all kinds of items that belonged to other people."
Riley said the man didn't seem to mind that he got caught.
"He really didn't care," Riley said. "He would bond out and that he would be back out doing this again."
The suspect, Rogelio Martinez Jr., 25, was arrested. Police declined to release his mug shot because he may be connected to other home burglaries in the area.
Investigators said there was a woman working with Martinez, but she got away.
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