88-year-old ‘Silver Burglar’ with decades of crime arrested yet again, Ohio cops say

A life of crime spanning decades has not deterred 88-year-old Kermit Gabel from succumbing to decisions landing him in police custody.

Gabel was arrested Tuesday in Ohio after failing to appear on a parole violation warrant in Smith County, Texas, WOIO reported. He was also booked in January and July 2019 by the Tyler Police Department in Texas on “charges that include criminal trespassing, theft, and violating the terms of his parole,” the outlet reported.

His rap sheet is so extensive, it earned him the nickname the “Silver Burglar.”

“In the 1970s and, following prison stints, the early 1990s, Gabel broke into homes and stole from residents in Shaker Heights, Gates Mills and Beachwood, taking silver flatware, furs and jewelry,” Cleveland.com reported.

Gabel reportedly “made a living by stealing other people’s property, disposing of the stolen goods in various creative ways, and laundering the proceeds,” prosecutors said during a 1996 trial between the United States v. Gabel.

His earliest offense came as early as 1974 based on a “conviction for interstate transportation of falsely managed and forged securities, forgery of U.S. Savings Bonds, aiding and abetting the first two offenses, and mail fraud. Gabel received a four year sentence of imprisonment for those offenses, but he was paroled on December 20, 1975.”

The repeat criminal offender was arrested by Austintown police and it is unclear when Gabel “will be extradited back to Texas,” WOIO said.