A Montclair couple went out for a few hours on November 14, then came home to discover a burglar had ransacked the master bedroom and pawed through all of the residents' jewelry boxes, taking approximately $5,000 worth of bling. Lt. Scott Buehler, of Montclair Police Department, says all doors were locked.
Residents of the single family home on Bellevue Avenue told police the house was empty from 5:30 - 9:30 p.m. The husband came home first. Upstairs, he noticed his wife's chest of drawers was open, and two jewelry boxes were on the floor. Thinking his wife had simply been in a hurry on her way out, he picked up the boxes and put them back on the dresser.
The wife returned home an hour later, to find a huge mess in her closet. Drawers were pulled open, all of her jewelry boxes lay on the floor, empty. Then she discovered a rear window on the second floor wide open - and saw their ladder propped up against the window.
The couple told police the ladder is kept in the garage, but the garage door was left open. The garage is detached from the home, and not visible from the driveway.
The home owners admitted the second floor window was not locked when they left; the burglar skipped over three laptops and a digital camera which were in plain sight but stole bracelets, rings, earrings and cuff links. The case is under investigation.
On November 16, just past midnight, Montclair Police were called to an apartment building on St. Luke's Place on the report of a man trying to break in through a first floor window. When police arrived, the caller said the man he saw was still seated in the lobby of the building. Police identified the intruder as Alan Beesley, 49, or Montclair. Beesley admitted he was trying to get into a friend's apartment, without her permission.
While on the premises, an officer contacted the "friend" who said she'd met Beesley about three weeks ago. Beesley had visited the woman earlier that evening. Around midnight she heard noise at the window, and saw Beesley trying to get in.
The woman told police she was scared, did not know what Beesley's intentions were, and told him to leave immediately.
Police arrested Beesley; he was taken to police headquarters and charged with burglary.
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Comments (5)
Cat burglar! Wow, $5k worth of bling. Sounds like the thief may have known it was there before the heist.
Police should also have charged Beesley with being weird.
Police should also have charged Beesley with being weird.
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Maybe they should have charged him with being weird instead of burglry. How does someone get charged with burglury if they fail to break in when their motives aren't know? Heck, why not charge him with rape - maybe that's what he was going to do if he succeeded.
Most I can see hitting him with would be attempted breaking and entering.
Regarding the first case, it seems that a lot of these burglaries have taken place when people leave doors open...Now that someone got in through an unlocked window, with the help off a ladder from an unlocked garage, this should be a lesson to make sure ALL doors are windows are securely locked before leaving your residence.
And don't leave the ladders outside either, unless they are chained up!
Burglary? Maybe attempted breaking and entering, if that's a crime.