Bucs' Sabby Piscitelli's home burglarized

TAMPA - As the Tampa Bay Buccaneers played their first winning game of the season, someone burglarized one of the players' homes and stole his flat-screen TV, police said.

A lawn mowing crew reported the break-in to the player's neighbors, but by then the bad guys were gone, and nobody wanted to call the stadium with the Bucs on top against the Packers.

Number 21 found out about it after the game.

"They just really tore the place up, they really ransacked the house and stole a flat screen TV and some valuable jewelry, and so this player had quite a mess to come home to after the game," said Tampa Police Department spokeswoman Laura McElroy.

Two of Piscitelli's neighbors say they've had cars stolen from garages and break-ins.

"My break-in happened during the Bucs game also," said Janee Murphy, who described leaving her home with her daughter headed to the game in Bucs gear. "Scary for me is that it sounds like some individuals came in here and targeted his place, and unfortunately did the break-in during the Bucs game, knowing he probably wasn't home."

Other neighbors tell us Piscitelli was upset when he came home, but they were surprised how well he took it, considering how torn up his home was. Guy Branham, who lives next door and works at MacDill, thinks the world of the young two-round draft pick from Boca.

"He's a real nice guy," Branham said. "He's done some stuff out at the base with the soldiers there. He's just a really good person in the community."

Police say they have some good leads, and hope for an arrest soon.

"It's just highly unusual to have a burglary on a Sunday when all the neighbors are at home," McElroy said. "So we believe that this person knew that the victim worked on Sundays, that he was a Bucs player, that he was on the field, and therefore his house was empty."