Saturday, August 15, 2009

Suspect In Looting Of Unoccupied Home In Foreclosure Accidentally Busted By Victim; Found Peddling Ripped Off Items At Neighborhood Yard Sale

In Severn, Maryland, The Baltimore Sun reports:
  • A woman whose home was burglarized as she stayed with her daughter was shocked to spot her belongings offered at a neighbor's yard sale, Anne Arundel County police say. [...] Police said they found $25,000 worth of her clothes, furnishings and other possessions - even a fur coat - on the property.

  • The victim, who has been living with her daughter for several months while her home is in foreclosure, discovered Thursday that her house had been burglarized. On Saturday, she and her daughter were on the way to the house [...] in Severn to inventory the missing items before calling police. When they spotted the yard sale nearby, they "were shocked to realize that every item" came from the victim's house, according to charging documents. Stunned, the women stopped and told the seller he was peddling the woman's stolen goods. He admitted that the merchandise was hers, not his, and she called police, court papers say.

***

  • The seller told police that he bought the woman's belongings for $100 from a man who came by a few times, most recently about three weeks ago, in an aqua-colored pickup truck, according to charging documents. The officer, however, suspected that the seller had looted what he thought was an abandoned home. [...] The woman's belongings were returned to her. Police charged David Anthony Perticone, 46, [...] with burglary and theft. He was out of jail in lieu of $80,000 bail, according to court records.

For more, see Yard sale a shock for woman (Neighbor was selling her stolen goods, police say).

See also, United Press International: Woman finds her stolen goods for sale.