Burglary Suspect Learns the Hard Way: Crime and Alcohol Don't Mix

A Lavonia police officer takes Manuel Pizon into custody after he allegedly passed out drunk inside a house he burglarized.Photo byLavonia Police Department/Facebook

If you drink while committing a crime, chances are good you’ll wind up doing time. That’s the harsh lesson one Tennessee man learned after allegedly burglarizing a home in Lavonia.

According to a news release from the Lavonia Police Department, officers arrested the drunk man on June 5 after he passed out inside a house he broke into.

Police say 32-year-old Manuel Delatols Pizon forcefully broke into the residence and stole a jar of change. He then used that change to buy “copious” amounts of alcohol. Returning to the same residence he had just burglarized, Pizon got drunk. Police say he passed out on a bedroom floor, where the homeowner’s parents discovered him.

The stunned couple held Pizon in the house with a shotgun until law enforcement arrived and officers took him into custody.

Lavonia PD bodycam footage shows the suspect passed out, face up on the floor.Photo byLavonia Police Department/Facebook

Police bodycam also captured this image of one of the homeowners' parents holding a shotgun.Photo byLavonia Police Department/Facebook

Police charged Pizon with felony 1st-degree burglary, criminal trespass, and theft by taking.

According to jail records, a judge denied Pizon’s bond. As of June 10, he remained in the Franklin County Detention Center.

Police posted the images and information to social media, adding these three ‘take aways’ from the incident:

1. Don’t allegedly commit burglaries, especially in Lavonia;
2. If you do allegedly commit a burglary, don’t get intoxicated and pass out inside the residence you’re allegedly burglarizing;
3. If you do allegedly commit a burglary, don’t allegedly burglarize a residence that is protected by parents who believe in the 2nd Amendment.