He fit the description. The crime fit the m.o. Did the cops finally pinch the Westville Flats Bandit?
Lt. Marty Tchakirides believes they may have.
Tchakirides, Westville’s top cop, doesn’t know for sure. But an arrest made last Thursday is giving him hope.
The arrest took place around lunchtime. Police got word that someone had burglarized condos just over the West Haven town line.
The alleged bandit had run back into New Haven. The cops chased him on foot. Officers Steven Manware and Quintaris McArthur caught the suspect in a Cleveland Road back yard.
The man, who was born in 1971, wore a dark hooded jacket over a grey hoodie. He wore jeans and boots. He was tall and thin, according to Tchakirides.
Tchakirides had been patrolling Westville daily looking for a man bearing that description. A man bearing that description has broken into about “half a dozen” homes in the Willard-Fountain-Central-Burnton-McKinley area (the Westville “flats”).
The pinched suspect lives right in the neighborhood and has “a long history of burglaries,” Tchakirides said. The state judicial database shows him having at least five theft and weapons convictions dating back to 2004, as well as an additional pending case.
The suspect was also carrying a digital camera and jewelry reported stolen from the condos when cops caught him Thursday, according to Tchakirides. “That’s another thing that kind of fits the m.o. of this guy. He only takes small items he can fit in his pockets. He’s not the guy you see running down the street with a 64-inch TV screen.”
The suspect denied committing the Thursday burglary, even after a witness identified him and the items were traced to the condos, Tchakirides said. So the man might not confess that he committed the other recent break-ins.
“Either he will tell us, ‘Yes I did the burglaries out there.’ Or my burglaries are going to stop, the ones with that similarities. If my burglaries just stop out there, it’s probably fair to say he was the one.”
The suspect has been held in jail on $20,000 bond in this case; he has a March 2 court date scheduled. At the time of his arrest Thursday, he had been released and awaiting a Feb. 22 court date on felony weapons and burglary charges related to an arrest in East Haven.
Neighborhood Alderman Adam Marchand emailed constituents updating them on the burglaries and offering safety tips. He added this: “If you happen know any of the victims of these crimes, take time to see how they’re doing. Offer them your support. Although no one has reported any injuries or devastating losses of property, crime takes a toll on all victims. Let’s watch out for our neighbors!”