The Bainbridge Island (Washington) Review – “Serial burglar still prowling on island UPDATE” – April 25^th, 2014:

Bainbridge Island police released two sketches of suspects who may have been involved in a string of residential burglaries on the island since early March.

Police Chief Matthew Hamner said Wednesday the illustrations were prepared by a police sketch artist with another agency. The sketches were prepared on April 15 and April 17, after more burglaries were reported on the island, and witnesses to earlier burglaries provided detailed descriptions to police.

In the most recent incident, the man entered a Bainbridge home while one of the residents was still home.

A 22-year-old woman was at home while her parents were away, and heard someone entering the house the afternoon of Wednesday, April 16.

She retreated to a bathroom, locked the door, and called 911.

Roughly two dozen burglaries have been reported on Bainbridge Island since March.

In six of the burglaries, the intruder entered through an unlocked door. The burglar forced his way into homes in some of the other cases.

The majority of the incidents occurred during the week and daytime hours while residents are at work.

The intruder has made off with easy-to-carry items such as jewelry and laptop computers, as well as three firearms.

The theft of the guns adds another dimension to the crimes.

fox5sandiego.com (California) – “Handcuffed inmate escapes from jail” – April 21^st, 2014:

SAN DIEGO – A 21 year old robbery suspect is on the loose after he escaped from the San Diego Central Jail downtown Monday afternoon.

Angelo Paschall was brought to the central jail by two La Mesa police officers Monday and was in the process of being booked when he escaped through an unlocked door. San Diego police, La Mesa police and Sheriff’s deputies used dogs to search for the inmate in the downtown area, specifically targeting a parking structure on 6th and L street, but they could not find him.

Morning Sentinel (Waterville, Maine) – “Charges in Cambridge home invasion upgraded to felony robbery” – April 20^th, 2014:

Two men with bandanas covering their faces allegedly invaded Ripley Road home, assaulted woman and made off with drugs in getaway car driven by woman, according to police.

Charges against two local men and a woman from Howland have been upgraded to felony robbery following a masked home invasion March 23 in Cambridge.

 

The woman, Melinda Riggs, 25, the alleged driver of the getaway car that night, was arrested Friday by Somerset County sheriff’s deputies on charges of robbery, burglary and theft. Riggs first was arrested after the home invasion on a probation hold. She is on probation for possession of scheduled drugs.

Joshua Chase, 28, of Detroit, and Ryan Spaulding, 24, of Waterville, originally were charged with probation violations and with assault following the home invasion. They now are charged with robbery, burglary, assault and theft.

Police said two men, believed to be Chase and Spaulding, covered their faces with bandannas and made their way into a home on Ripley Road through an unlocked door about 1:20 a.m. Once inside the men allegedly assaulted the 34-year-old woman who lives there when she confronted them, and they made off with prescription medication, according to Dale Lancaster, chief deputy for the Somerset County Sheriff’s Department.

The woman reportedly was assaulted a second time outside the home as the men attempted to leave in the getaway car, a 2000 Nissan Maxima, allegedly driven by Riggs, Lancaster said.

The getaway car was stopped 10 minutes later on Corinna Road in Dexter by the Dexter Police Department during a routine drunken driving roadblock.

 

San Bernardino (California) Sun – “Woman tased during home-invasion robbery in San Bernardino” – April 19^th, 2014:

Four males entered an unlocked home in the middle of the night, robbing the residents at gunpoint, according to authorities.

The home invasion occurred sometime between 2and 3 a.m. Friday in the 5900 block of Arden Avenue when four men wearing masks entered a home through an unlocked door, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.

Two residents, a man and a woman, were bound, and the woman was tased while the robbers took numerous items from the home before fleeing in an unknown vehicle, according to the Sheriff’s Department.

losangeles.cbslocal.com – “Thieves Allegedly Make Off With 7,000 Comic Books That Took Man 3 Decades To Collect” – April 18^th, 2014:

An Eagle Rock man is searching for the thieves who allegedly made off with his lifelong collection of comic books.

Adam Rose told CBS2’s Greg Mills that 14 boxes of comic books were taken from his garage sometime last week.

As he explained, the suspected thieves allegedly removed his garage door opener from his unlocked vehicle, and made their way into his garage.

In all, 7,000 comic books were taken – a collection that took Rose three decades to build.

Morning Sentinel (Skowhegan, Maine) – “’Creepy’ burglar charged again in Skowhegan” – April 10^th, 2014:

Police said Douglas A. DeWalt allegedly entered a woman’s home through an unlocked door and stood over her bed, just like he did in previous cases.

SKOWHEGAN — A man once described by a district attorney as “creepy” for twice breaking into homes and standing over women he thought were sleeping was arrested Wednesday in Skowhegan for allegedly doing the same thing.

Douglas A. DeWalt, 46, of Skowhegan, was charged with aggravated criminal trespass for allegedly entering a woman’s home near Jewett and Chandler streets through an unlocked door about 3:20 a.m. and standing over her bed, Police Chief Ted Blais said Thursday. DeWalt, who made his initial court appearance on the charge Wednesday, had only been out of prison five months for convictions on identical charges.

Blais said the 48-year-old woman was awakened by a creak of the door in the darkness of her home early Wednesday morning. She had left the doors unlocked that night, he said.

Blais said the newest charge against DeWalt shows a pattern of behavior that is disturbing, and said it highlights of the importance of homeowners locking their doors at night.

Contra Costa (California) Times – “Concord grandfather found guilty in grandson’s mauling by pit bulls” – April 11^th, 2014:

A judge Friday afternoon found a Concord grandfather guilty of involuntary manslaughter and child endangerment in the fatal 2010 mauling of his toddler grandson by three pit bulls -- dogs a prosecutor said their owner knew to be vicious.

In a rare legal procedure, Contra Costa Superior Court Judge John Kennedy decided 55-year-old Steven Hayashi's verdict, after Hayashi waived his right to a jury trial. Hayashi faces up to 10 years in prison.

On July 22, 2010, Hayashi's 2-year-old step-grandson, Jacob Bisbee, walked into an unlocked garage after leaving him unsupervised with his 4-year-old brother and sleeping wife. The three pit bulls mauled the boy, who bled to death.

At issue was whether Hayashi should have foreseen the attack, with prosecutors saying Hayashi knew the dogs had killed two family pets and showed aggression toward Jacob. Hayashi's defense attorney argued that his client believed Jacob and his brother were left with an awake adult -- Hayashi's wife -- and that the dogs had never attacked a person before, only animals.

In explaining his decision, Kennedy said Hayashi did not check to see whether Jacob's father had left for work or whether the toddler's door was open, didn't confirm whether the children or his wife were awake and didn't lock the garage door before he left to play tennis.

Hayashi was told numerous times by his wife and other relatives to get rid of the dogs because they feared how they would react to the children, Kennedy said.

"But as he told his wife, the dogs were his, and the children were his step-grandchildren, and they should leave before the dogs," prosecutor Mary Knox told the judge in her opening statement.

On the day of the mauling, Hayashi's wife made the grisly discovery about 8:45 a.m. and called 9-1-1. The dispatcher could hear the dogs barking furiously in the background, Kennedy said.

"The likelihood one of the toddlers would get hurt by the dogs was high," Kennedy said.

Knox argued that Hayashi had plenty of advance warning about the danger he was placing the young boys in and said after court that Jacob's death was "a completely avoidable tragedy."