Brandon man stages home burglary to avoid work, deputies say

TAMPA — Dwayne Yeager was desperate to avoid going to work Monday, deputies say, but his wife wouldn't hear of it.

So to avoid heading to his fabrication job at Dooson Hydro Technology, deputies say, Yeager staged a burglary of his house. He called authorities shortly after 7 a.m.

"I need a sheriff in Brandon," said Yeager, 31.

He said he was gone from home only 45 minutes before discovering the break-in. "I come back, my door's wide open. My windows to my son's bedroom are open. My TVs are laying on the ground," he told a dispatcher.

Deputies arrived at his house, on Bridlewood Way in Brandon, where they found the front door open. Inside, the house appeared ransacked.

The front bedroom window and blinds were also open, but deputies say they didn't see any signs of forced entry.

Deputies talked to neighbors and learned that Yeager left his house about 6:30 a.m. and returned at 7:15 a.m. Someone saw him walk through the front door, lift the blinds and open the front bedroom window.

Then he walked outside, where he waited until deputies arrived, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office said. The tipster, whose name was not released, said there was no vehicle at Yeager's house before he arrived back home.

When deputies confronted Yeager with the discrepancies, they say he admitted he had staged the crime to avoid going to work.

Yeager was arrested and taken to the Orient Road Jail on one count of providing false information to law enforcement. He was released later Monday on $500 bail.