A 37-year-old man is facing a stack of felony charges after Jupiter police say he broke into five plumbing company vans overnight, made off with more than $11,000 in tools, and then tried to flee when officers caught up to him near PGA Boulevard. Officers ultimately fired a single 40mm impact round that struck Tadarius Lamar Rhim's leg before he was taken into custody.
According to WPEC, investigators say a white Dodge Ram pulled up to Jet Plumbing at 1311 Commerce Lane around 9:05 a.m. while the business was closed. Surveillance video allegedly shows Rhim stepping out of the truck wearing gloves and a ski mask before entering five separate Jet Plumbing vans, one of which was left unlocked. Investigators say they later recovered roughly $11,132 worth of tools tied to the break-ins.
Police say Rhim caused about $1,000 in damage to van windows during the burglaries, and detectives followed the Dodge Ram after identifying it as a vehicle suspected in multiple burglaries. The station's report notes that when officers moved to stop the truck near PGA Boulevard and the Florida Turnpike, Rhim initially refused commands and reached back into his truck, prompting an officer to fire the impact round that struck his leg.
A Multi-County Charge Sheet
Rhim now faces five counts of burglary of an unoccupied conveyance, grand theft between $10,000 and $20,000, criminal mischief over $1,000, possession of burglary tools with intent to use, resisting an officer without violence, and a charge tied to crossing county lines to commit burglary, per the same account. Investigators say the burglaries spanned from Miami-Dade County to Jupiter.
That cross-county allegation carries real legal weight. Under Florida Statute § 843.22, committing a burglary outside an offender's home county automatically bumps the crime up to the next higher statutory degree, according to the Florida Legislature. Florida Senate legislative analysis explains that defendants charged under that statute cannot post bail until they appear in person before a judge at a formal first-appearance hearing, a safeguard lawmakers built in to let judges weigh a suspect's history and flight risk across jurisdictions.
What Each Charge Could Mean in Court
Burglary of an unoccupied conveyance, such as a commercial van, is a third-degree felony in Florida punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine per count, according to the Sammis Law Firm — and Florida law does not require forced entry, since simply entering an unlocked vehicle with intent to steal satisfies the statute. With five separate van counts alleged, that exposure could add up quickly.
The grand theft charge similarly falls under a third-degree felony framework. Florida Statute § 812.014(2)(c) classifies theft of property valued between $750 and $20,000 as a third-degree felony carrying up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine, according to Richard Hornsby, P.A. The criminal mischief charge tied to the roughly $1,000 in window damage is also a felony-level offense: under Florida Statute § 806.13, intentionally causing $1,000 or more in property damage elevates the charge from a misdemeanor to a third-degree felony, per the Law Office of Roger P. Foley, and courts routinely order restitution to cover repair costs in such cases.
A Pattern Police Say Predates the Jupiter Arrest
This is not Rhim's first brush with South Florida law enforcement over alleged vehicle burglaries. In June 2024, the Miami Springs Police Department arrested a then-35-year-old Tadarius Lamar Rhim during an undercover operation at a Publix in North Miami, accusing him of burglarizing multiple vehicles at local hotels and threatening staff who tried to report the thefts, according to a report relayed by Concepcion Law.
Then in June 2025, the Pembroke Pines Police Department's Burglary Suppression Team arrested a then-33-year-old Tadarius Rhim of Fort Lauderdale after officers observed him casing a parking lot in the Avant community and committing vehicle burglary and auto theft, with a co-defendant taken into custody following a tactical traffic stop, the Pembroke Pines Police Department reported on Facebook.
The Path Through County Custody
Records show Rhim was booked into the St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office detention facility under booking number 274308 on August 27, before being transferred to Palm Beach County custody on August 30, according to a post shared by Treasure Coast FL Mugshots. The timeline reflects how regional agencies coordinated detention transfers as investigators tracked burglaries spanning Miami-Dade, St. Lucie, and Palm Beach counties.
Jupiter police lean heavily on technology to catch mobile crime crews moving between counties. The department's fixed and mobile Automated License Plate Readers along major roadways generated 42 arrests for stolen vehicles and active warrants within a single year, the Jupiter Police Department said in a Facebook announcement, with LPR hits fed into regional Real-Time Crime Centers to coordinate felony stops near corridors like PGA Boulevard and the Florida Turnpike.
Statewide, Florida recorded a property crime rate of 17.7 per 1,000 residents in 2025, lower than the national average of 19.6 per 1,000, according to George Law. Even so, specialized trade tool theft and cross-county vehicle break-ins remain a persistent target for South Florida law enforcement task forces, the firm notes — a dynamic that appears to run through Rhim's arrest record from Miami-Dade to Broward to Palm Beach County.
