SCARBOROUGH Police in Scarborough are on the hunt for a burglar with a penchant for fancy footwork, after he kicked in doors at three homes Sunday afternoon.

At his first stop, the burglar was slightly more delicate, prying open French doors leading from the backyard patio of a home on Holmes Road. After rifling through draws, cupboards and closets, the thief made off with a black Smith & Wesson 9mm semi-automatic handgun valued at $700, as well as $2,400 in cash. However, having apparently misplaced his pry bar it was recovered by police and taken into evidence the burglar resorted to kicking in a door leading to the home’s garage.

According to the residents, the burglary happened at some point between 2 and 4:35 p.m. while they were away and nothing else was taken. At about the same time, the burglar is believed to have hit a residence on Burnham Road. The homeowner returned at 5:15 p.m. to find the rear door kicked in but, according to Scarborough Police Department spokesman Detective Sgt. Rick Rouse, nothing was stolen.

“This guy appears to have been interested in small items, things he could stick in his pocket, rather than bigger stuff, like TVs, that he’d have to carry,” Rouse said Monday afternoon.

However, the kickboxing burglar was in for a surprise when he applied his boot to a home on Two Rod Road, shortly after 3 p.m. because, in this case, the resident happened to be home at the time.

The homeowner, though naturally surprised, was able to put together a verbal portrait, describing the burglar as a white male in his late teens or early 20s, about 6 feet tall, with a thin build and short, dark brown hair. He was wearing jeans and a white T-shirt.

“It’s very odd for this to happen on a Sunday afternoon of all days, when people are likely to be home,” said Rouse. “There is extra concern as far as knowing this person who is breaking into houses is now possibly armed. They [burglars] generally sell and guns they get for drugs or money, but there is always the possibility that this person is using it, for protection or intimidation, or whatever.”

Still, police may have a lead. According to Rouse, while officers where interviewing the Two Rod Road homeowner, they were approached by residents of a home on Payne Road, located about a half-mile away.

According to those folks, a young man matching the description of the burglar knocked on their door, rather than attempting to kick it down, and asked to use the telephone. Rouse said the Payne Road residents described the man as “acting very nervous, like something was up,” but nonetheless allowed him into their home to call for a ride.

Not long after, he picked up by person driving a green Toyota Corolla, said Rouse.

“There were all definitely related,” said Rouse, noting that investigators are following up on several leads.

In other activity Sunday, Rouse said, windows were reported broken by BB-gun pellets at buildings on Holmes Road, Winnocks Neck Road and Chamberlain Road. A car window also was smashed with a rock at a home on Black Point Road June 22, while on June 19 windows were shot out of two R. J. Grondin & Sons construction vehicles parked overnight at the Dunstan Schoolhouse Restaurant.

“I guess school’s out,” quipped Rouse.

A similar vandalism streak struck Scarborough last year, beginning in late-May. Over a three-week period, BBs, pellets and .22-caliber bullets, all launched from firearms held by occupants of a passing vehicle, lodged in the windows and walls of nearly 20 homes and businesses in town. Once police announced they had their eye on a group of suspects, the shooting spree stopped. No person was ever charged.

Copy the Story Link