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Carmel Teens Charged in Burglary Spree
Kent Police Chief Donald L. Smith, Carmel Police Chief Michael Johnson, and Putnam County Sheriff Donald B. Smith report the arrests of two teenagers from Carmel in connection with a spree of burglaries at commercial establishments. The suspects, boys aged 15 and 16, have been implicated in a two-month-long string of nine nighttime burglaries of businesses in the Towns of Kent and Carmel.
Authorities say the pair wore gloves and bandanas over their faces and used rocks to smash their way through plate glass doors and windows at the businesses, some of which they burglarized more than once.
The arrests occurred after officials from the Carmel and Kent Police Departments and the Sheriff's Department developed and shared leads on the first seven burglaries and coordinated increased deployments of overnight patrols in the Kent and Carmel business districts. The officials' combined efforts paid off last Thursday, September 21, when the suspects were apprehended after committing their eighth and ninth break-ins.
In Thursday's burglaries, the suspects broke into two businesses in the Hamlet of Carmel, smashing their way into the Giggles adult novelty store and Fancy Fine delicatessenneighboring businesses in a small strip of stores located at
the intersection of U.S. Route 6 and Church Street-at about 5:00am in the morning. The suspects stole some twenty glass smoking pipes from the novelty shop and as many packs of cigarettes from the deli.
Thursday's break-ins were discovered just minutes after they occurred, by a deliveryman, who called police. Nearby police officers and detectives from the Carmel and Kent Police Departments and deputies and investigators from the Sheriff's Office converged on the area and commenced a dragnet search for the burglars.
Minutes later, Kent Police Officer Joseph Fleischman and Deputy Sheriff Daniel Hunsberger located the 15-yearold suspect hiding on an exterior stairwell of the Knights of Columbus Lodge on Fair Street in the hamlet. Proceeds from the burglaries were found in his possession. That suspect was taken into custody and, upon further investigation by town detectives and sheriff's investigators, his 16-year-old accomplice was identified and arrested a few hours later.
The defendants were charged with two counts of Burglary in the Third Degree, a class D felony, for the Giggles and Fancy Fine break-ins. Those offenses carry penalties of up to seven years' imprisonment and fines of up to $5,000 on each count. The 16-year-old was arraigned
before Carmel Town Justice James Reitz, who remanded him to the Putnam County Correctional Facility in lieu of $15,000 bail. The 15- year-old was issued an appearance ticket and released into the custody of his father. The older youth's case will be heard in the Carmel Justice Court and the younger teen faces juvenile proceedings in Putnam County Family Court. Both defendants have court appearances scheduled for October
In addition to yesterday's burglaries, the youths are implicated in seven other similar smash-and-grab burglaries at businesses in Carmel and Kent over the past two months, including break-ins at the Sunoco and Getty gas stations on Route 52 and the Citgo station on Fowler Avenue; charges are expected to be filed in the Carmel and Kent courts in those cases. The suspects reportedly broke into the Sunoco and Citgo stations on three different occasions during the crime spree.
Also assisting in the investigation or arrests were Carmel Detective Sergeant John Harney, Detectives Robert Bagnarol and Michael Nagel, and Officer Robert Behan, Kent Detectives Kevin Douchkoff and Kevin Owens, Sheriff's Investigators Vincent Martin, Jeffrey Devolve, Michael Nalbone, and Robert Langley, Sergeant Lee Stabe, and Deputy John Matrician.
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