MADISON CO., Miss. (WLBT) – Following a two day trial, a Florida man was convicted by a Madison County Circuit Court jury on eleven counts of auto burglary, one count of conspiracy, and currently faces up to 82 years in prison without the possibility of parole.
On Oct. 13, 2023, officers with the Madison Police Department responded to reports of burglary in the parking lot of a Burn Boot Camp fitness center.
The windows of 11 vehicles had been broken and items such as purses, wallets, bank cards, and checkbooks were stolen. All the victims were attending a 5 a.m. workout class inside the gym.
After reviewing surveillance footage of the parking lot, investigators noted a 2022 Toyota RAV4 pull in to the lot just before 5 a.m.
Just after the workout class began, an individual then exited the vehicle and proceeded to smash the windows of all 11 vehicles, taking items out of the cars, return to the passenger side seat of the Toyota RAV4, and then be driven away.
This all occurred in 20 minutes.
MPD officers were able to obtain the tag number of the suspect’s vehicle and uploaded it into their license plate reader system to continue the investigation.
Two days prior, on Oct. 11, 2023, a similar incident occurred at another Burn Boot Camp location in Oxford, Mississippi, where several vehicles had been broken into and burglarized just before a 5 a.m. workout class.
The investigation led law enforcement to a rented Airbnb in Hattiesburg where, with the assistance of the Forrest County Sheriff’s Office, a search warrant was executed on the home and vehicles.
Multiple items from both burglaries were found, including credit cards, driver’s licenses, and more which belonged to the victims.
The suspected burglars were also now driving a Chrysler 300 and officers obtained this tag number as well.
The Chrysler 300 was located in Trussville, Alabama, and was stopped by police.
Four individuals were inside the vehicle, along with several cell phones.
MPD performed forensic examinations on the cell phones and located the one that belonged to Victor Andrew Ogiste, 29, of Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Ogiste had been one of the individuals inside the vehicle.
On his cell phone, officers uncovered that Ogiste had searched for the locations of multiple Burn Boot Camp locations and his map location history placed him as the driver at the time of the Madison burglary.
Through the phone’s geolocation mapping data, call detail history records, and connections to various cell towers, investigators ascertained that Ogiste and the others left Fort Lauderdale several days before the burglaries.
The suspects traveled through both North Carolina and South Carolina, Tennessee, and Mississippi.
In Mississippi, they stopped in Oxford, continued on to Hattiesburg and spent a night there, then kept going to Madison.
After the Madison burglary, the suspects returned to Hattiesburg briefly and began driving towards Tennessee when they were arrested in Alabama.
During a prior court appearance, Ogiste was scheduled for his trial.
However, Ogiste told his attorney he would not appear for that trial, which he did not.
Ogiste was then tried in absentia, where he was not present for the trial itself, but with proper legal representation.
A bench warrant was issued for Ogiste, after the court was informed that Ogiste “knowingly and voluntarily absented himself.”
As of the Madison County Circuit Court’s jury on Sept. 16, 2025, Ogiste’s whereabouts are currently unknown. Ogiste’s co-defendant also did not appear in court and there are warrants out for his arrest.
Madison and Rankin Counties’ District Attorney John K. “Bubba” Bramlett released a statement on the case:
“This began as multiple auto burglaries in the early morning hours with zero eye witnesses. If not for the persistence and hard work of the Madison Police Department, it would never have been solved. Using all sorts of investigative tools, MPD was able to follow what was essentially a series of bread crumbs until they were able to identify and gather evidence on a suspect. Thankfully, multiple law enforcement agencies from across the region were willing to work with MPD to help gather, not only additional evidence, but eventually the key suspect and his cell phone which provided a treasure trove of data that allowed my office to map the geolocation data needed to solidify the case against Mr. Ogiste. I have no doubt that the suspects only reason for being in Mississippi, or any of the previous locations they had been in, was to break into cars. These men were professional thieves and without the work of MPD, they would probably still be out there smashing windows and stealing people’s belongings. We are lucky to live in a county where the police take these matters seriously and tirelessly attempt to solve crimes no matter how little they have to go on in the beginning.”
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