A jury has convicted a Wichita man in a series of residential and business burglaries and other crimes.
50-year-old Gary Garrett was charged in three separate cases totaling 27 counts, including three residential burglaries, an attempted residential burglary, one business burglary, and a number of counts of theft, forgery and identity theft.
Prosecutors said Garrett used online obituary postings to plan residential burglaries. Victims reported losing financial documents, guns and electronics, and some of the burglaries took place while they were away from home attending funeral services for deceased family members.
Garrett was arrested in November, 2023 in the parking lot of an east Wichita Walmart store, and he was found to be in possession of a driver’s license belonging to one of the deceased victims. A Wichita police detective testified during the trial that Garrett’s phone showed online searches of obituaries that matched the burglary locations across the city from July to November of 2023.
Garrett was also convicted of using fake IDs to rent and purchase several vehicles, and one of the vehicles had a GPS location device that placed it at the scene of several of the burglaries.
A judge has scheduled sentencing for Garrett for October 24th.
