Dad: I stole air conditioners to gain child custody (Deltona, Florida)

Note that daddy MICHAEL TSAGARAKIS has a history of grand theft, so stealing air conditioners ain't exactly exactly new ground for him.

But it does show you how entitled Florida daddies are these days. Even daddies with histories of petty criminal activity feel assured that they can get custody--as long as they have the bucks.

Not a word on this child's mother.

INVISIBLE MOTHER ALERT.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/os-stolen-air-conditioner-deltona-20101006,0,3971104.story

Father: I stole air conditioners for money to gain child custody

Daytona Beach By Susan Jacobson, Orlando Sentinel

12:59 p.m. EDT, October 6, 2010

A man who said he was stealing air conditioners to raise money to get custody of his daughter was arrested after a woman saw him walking into the back yard of a vacant house to steal an air conditioner, the Volusia County Sheriff's Office said.

Michael Tsagarakis, 31, was trying to remove the machine from a window of a house on Laredo Drive in Deltona today about 7:15 a.m., investigators said. He is linked to other, similar thefts they said.

He was arrested on two charges of grand theft and also on a probation violation from a case earlier this year in which he stole motorcycle parts and tried to sell them to a scrap yard, authorities said.

Deputies are investigating the role of Tsagarakis' girlfriend, who they say drove a truck used to haul the stolen air conditioners. They found a unit stolen the same morning from a house on Van Allen Circle at a different Deltona home where the girlfriend was waiting for Tsagarakis, they said.

Tsagarakis told investigators that he needed $300 to get custody of his daughter, they said.

He is being held at the Volusia County Branch Jail in Daytona Beach.