Police: Burglars Break into 3 Homes and a Business in PC

Port Chester police responded to a rash of burglaries on Tuesday after residents reported break-ins at three homes, while thousands of dollars in equipment was stolen in an unrelated commercial burglary.

Police believe two of the residential burglaries were related – when officers responded to a break-in at a South Main Street apartment building on Tuesday, a neighbor from across the hall told them her apartment had been broken into as well. But police don't believe a Midland Avenue burglary reported on the same day was related to the two other residential break-ins.

The first break-in was reported at 8:11 a.m., when the owner of M&D General Construction Co. on Pearl Street called police. The business owner, who rents a basement where he keeps contracting equipment, told officers he locked up on Monday night and returned at 8 a.m. Tuesday to find a lock broken off a storage closet.

The burglars stole wheel barrows, a compressor, nail guns and other equipment worth a combined $3,660, Lt. James Ladeairous said.

There were no signs of forced entry on the basement door. The owner, a 47-year-old man from the Bronx, told police the contracting supplies were intact and secure when he'd locked up the night before.

Three residential break-ins reported within several hours Tuesday

A laptop and jewelry were stolen from a Midland Avenue apartment Tuesday, police said.

The victims reported the break-in at 12:47 p.m., after their daughter returned home from school and realized the apartment was ransacked. She called her father, who dialed police.

The front door, which is located in a common hallway, was forced open. The door jamb was damaged and the burglars had ripped the lock from the frame, Ladeairous said.

Inside, the main bedroom was ransacked and a jewelry box had been dumped open, with its contents missing. The daughter's bedroom was also rifled through, Ladeairous said. Several gold necklaces, rings and a Toshiba laptop were taken from that room.

The victims told detectives they'd left their home at 8:40 a.m. Other valuables in the apartment were left undisturbed.

Later on Tuesday, two residents of a South Main Street building reported burglaries to police. The first victim called police at 5:15 p.m. and said he'd arrived home to find his front door ajar. Two Acer laptops, valued at about $750 each, had been taken.

The laptops were kept in two separate bedrooms, both of which were locked, the victim told police. However, there was no sign of forced entry into either bedroom.
While officers were taking statements from the victim, a neighbor across the hall approached them and said his apartment had also been entered.

The neighbor told police that someone had entered a bedroom in the rear of the apartment and broke off a padlock on a large dresser. Items inside were disturbed, but nothing was taken.

Anyone with information on the burglaries is asked to call the Port Chester Police Department at 914-939-1000. All calls will be kept confidential.

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