Detective Robert Aurand smelled something fishy when he saw the teen-age boy wearing gloves, a backpack and a stocking cap in 53-degree weather cross Hillendale and Breezeway roads in Cape St. Claire about 11 a.m. Wednesday.
When he recognized the 15-year-old as someone he had arrested two weeks earlier on a burglary charge, the detective asked to search the youth's backpack. Within hours, the boy was in custody, charged with eight home burglaries and one attempted burglary in Cape St. Claire.
Detective Aurand was on a stakeout, trying to catch the culprit in a rash of burglaries in Cape St. Claire that began Nov. 22 when he saw the youth. It was so warm, "I had to take my jacket off," which is what made him suspicious, the detective said.
In the boy's backpack, he found a flat-head screwdriver. Remembering that such a screwdriver had been used to pry open windows in the burglaries, the detective took the boy into custody for questioning. Eventually, the boy confessed to eight burglaries and one attempted burglary in Cape St. Claire, police said.
The boy, who lives in the 1000 block of Magothy Park Lane in Cape St. Claire, was charged as a juvenile and held overnight at the Eastern District station. Detective Aurand said he was to have a hearing before an intake officer at the juvenile services office at the Circuit Court in Annapolis yesterday afternoon to determine if he would be released to his parents or held at a juvenile facility.
Juvenile officials at the Circuit Court would not say whether he was released.
The corner of Hillendale and Breezeway road is about a block from the 1000 block of Magothy View, where a home was burglarized Nov. 22. Jewelry and electronic equipment were taken in that incident, police said.
Detective Aurand said he did not know the value of the items taken in the burglaries. "It's thousands and thousands of dollars. Most of the people haven't even completed property lists yet," he said.
Detectives have been able to recover only a few rings and a few
gold chains.