Police team up to find burglars

He said certain aspects of the break-ins suggest they were committed by the same people: Jewelry and electronics were stolen, and in more than one case the robbers used the homeowners’ pillowcases to haul away their loot.

“The evidence suggests there are multiple people involved,” Whitcomb said Wednesday.

Stowe police are also working with other departments with similar crimes.

On Sunday, Richmond police arrested a Waterbury man, James F. Myers, on a charge of felony burglary. Police allege he was interrupted mid-crime by family members who stopped by a home on Hinesburg Road, and two of them held Myers until police arrive.

The homeowner, an elderly woman, was out of the house at the time, according to Richmond police.

“He was in the process of removing a pillowcase’s worth of primarily jewelry from her dwelling when family members coincidentally stopped at the residence and discovered the crime in progress,” said the Richmond officer handling the case.

Just up the road, Hinesburg police are investigating a burglary attempt that occurred just 30 minutes earlier. Police asked people to be on the lookout for a silver sedan seen in that area.

And on Wednesday, Vermont State Police reported they are investigating thefts from vehicles in Huntington village Monday night and in Richmond village the week before. Cash, loose change, cellphone chargers and other small belongings were taken.

Whitcomb said the Richmond case has similarities to the Stowe break-ins.

At the Pinnacle Road break-in, a pillowcase was removed from a bedroom and a large amount of jewelry was stolen, as well as an iPad.

In the burglary on Leriche Road, jewelry was also stolen, and homeowner Barbara Nash is offering a $500 reward for anyone who can provide information leading to an arrest.

Some businesses that handle jewelry will contact police if they receive suspect property, said Stowe Police Chief Donald Hull. For instance, Ferro Jewelers has called at least once, Hull said.

Police have some advice to help people thwart burglars. First, lock your doors. Hull said that, in some of the burglaries, the crooks got in just by opening the door.

Second, report suspicious activity. The police blotter is peppered every week with “suspicious event” calls to police, and most of them turn out to be benign: a tourist taking photos, a landscaper doing his job, a family member not recognizable to neighbors.

But all five Stowe burglaries being investigated now were called in by the homeowners themselves, not by someone who saw something off-kilter.

Whitcomb said neighbors should not be afraid to pick up the phone and call the police if they sense something is amiss.

“Ultimately, they know their neighborhoods best,” Whitcomb said. “Better than us, anyway.”

Drug-related?

Joel Page, Lamoille County’s outgoing state’s attorney, said Tuesday he thinks there has been an uptick in home burglaries in recent years, more than normal for his 30-plus years in office.

There have also been more bank robberies recently — two in Lamoille County in the past month alone.

He thinks a lot of the crime is driven by opiate use. People who steal to fund their drug habits are usually well beyond the fleeting phase of enjoyment they once had when they started taking hard drugs, he said. They need the drugs to avoid becoming sick.

“They’ll do anything to avoid withdrawal,” Page said. “Their perspective gets so warped that they basically have blinders on.”

In prosecuting burglars, Page said a history of drug use and mental illness can be mitigating factors in sentencing. Some people are hardened criminals whose “whole thought process is lacking in empathy,” and have been in and out of jail numerous times. Some people are first-time offenders with drug problems.

One example of the latter is Jasper Goss, a 19-year-old Stowe man who was charged with burglarizing more than a dozen homes last spring. Page said his sentence was reduced to six counts of burglary, and his sentence was reduced, too, largely because Goss has a loving family willing to keep an eye on him and drive him to any appointments he needs to attend.

“He had a strong family unit that provided a much higher level of supervision than the Department of Corrections could ever do,” Page said.

Page thinks that, despite their Hollywood or Wild West aura, bank robberies are actually less of a concern than home break-ins. Banks are insured, their employees are trained, and they have the best technology available for catching thieves. Home break-ins, though, strike right at the heart of a town, making residents feel vulnerable and even fear for their own safety.

He should know: His own home in Johnson has been broken into twice. He said it’s a distressing violation.

“More so for my wife, who doesn’t have to deal with the kind of crap that I do day in and day out,” he said.