He cut through the neighborhood to ‘shop for homes.’ Deputies say he took uninvited tour to rip off one of them

Nobody wants to come home to an occupied house that’s supposed to be empty, but that’s exactly what a Bradenton woman did Wednesday morning.

According to the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office, there was a bicycle in her driveway, the bedroom light was on, and the back door of her mobile home in the 300 block of 48th Ave. Drive W. was wide open.

While she waited for deputies to arrive, she caught a glimpse of a man exiting her home, according to an arrest report. She didn’t see enough of the suspect to provide law enforcement with a proper description.

But deputies searching the area located a man dressed in black clothing who was walking up the driveway of a home just two streets away.

Dario Arana, 61, told deputies he was just cutting through the mobile home park to see if there were any homes for rent. Before they could search his bag, he dumped it out himself and cleared his pockets.

The bag reportedly contained a folder with the victim’s paperwork and a woman’s brown fur coat that Arana said he purchased for a trip to New York in a few days, according to an arrest report. He admitted the bike at the victim’s home was his, however.

The mobile home is currently on the market, and the victim isn’t living there. According to Arana, a real estate agent named Richard showed him the home Tuesday and had scheduled a second meeting for Wednesday. He also said the fur coat was in the trash can outside of the home, which the victim denied.

Deputies say Arana gave inconsistent statements and may have been living in the home, because there was a pillow in the home that didn’t belong to the victim and the toilet had been used recently, but not flushed.

Arana was charged with burglary of an unoccupied dwelling and is being held in Manatee County jail without bond on contempt of court charges.

This story was originally published January 6, 2018 at 5:10 PM with the headline "He cut through the neighborhood to ‘shop for homes.’ Deputies say he took uninvited tour to rip off one of them."