Arrest of New Ro Man Solves 3 Crimes in 2 Towns

When police arrived at the old United Hospital parking lot early Friday morning, they found a New Rochelle man slumped over his steering wheel with a McDonald's pancake platter in his lap.

When they finally booked the sleeping man a few hours later, they'd solved three crimes -- including a pair of break-ins and a car theft.

Jose Morales, 19, was asleep with the keys in the ignition and the motor running when police knocked on the window

of his 1997 Nissan Sentra at 8:53 a.m. Security staff at the former hospital grounds had called officers about the sleeping driver, and as they roused Morales, officers realized the car was damaged: a passenger-side window was broken and it looked like the steering column had been tampered with, Lt. James Ladeairous said.

A records check revealed Morales had multiple license suspensions. The New Rochelle man was also glassy-eyed and slurred his words, but passed a breathylizer. Police found a bag of marijuana and two ecstasy pills in his jacket pocket, according to Ladeairous.

While officers waited for a tow truck, they heard radio chatter from another officer, who was investigating a car break-in at Locust and Putnam Avenue. The officer at that scene said the victim reported stereo equipment missing.

Sure enough, in the back of the Sentra, police found an Alpine stereo, four Alpine TV screens and a pair of iPods. The victim later confirmed the items were stolen from his car.

Police took Morales into headquarters when they received another call, this time reporting power tools stolen from a vehicle on Abendroth Place. The tools, about $5,000 worth, were also stuffed into the trunk of the Sentra.

Police achieved a trifecta after alerting neighboring departments about the Sentra. Morales told officers the car belonged "to a friend," but New Rochelle police received the Port Chester transmission and confirmed a person had reported the same car stolen earlier that day.

Morales, of Madeline Avenue in New Rochelle, was charged with multiple felonies, including two counts of criminal possession of stolen property in the second degree and one count of criminal possession of stolen property in the third degree. He was also charged with misdemeanor drug possession for the ecstasy tablets, and unlawful possesion for the marijuana.

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