Burglary rash labeled ‘worst’ by NK sheriff
Seven individuals comprising three separate suspected burglary groups have been arrested in recent weeks in the wake of a rash of home break-ins in New Kent County.
“This is probably the worst I’ve ever seen it,” Sheriff F.W. “Wakie” Howard Jr. said last week, commenting on the 23 burglaries that have occurred between July 1 and Sept. 27.
“In the past when we’ve made an arrest, break-ins have slowed down over the next few weeks,” he said. “But now we’re just being bombarded. There’s no rest or break in between.”
Howard pointed to the state of the economy, drug dependency, and the presence of Interstate 64 as easy access to the county as probable reasons for the recent outbreak.
Residential burglaries are commonly a daytime occurrence, when thieves target a house where the owners are away at work. But that trend appears to be changing, the sheriff said.
“We’re seeing it start to occur at night, and that raises the potential for violence,” he said. So far, he added, there have been no home invasions or breaking into an occupied dwelling at nighttime incidents in New Kent.
Thieves, however, are risking more by resorting to nighttime burglaries at occupied homes, which carry a penalty of five to 20 years in prison compared to one to 20 for a daytime break-in. If a suspect carries a weapon and enters a house at night, the penalty rises to 20 years to life.
“Most of the individuals we’ve arrested are out-of-county residents, but some have a New Kent connection,” the sheriff said. “Then we get the random ones who are just riding through.”
Howard also said that some burglary groups now include women.
“Females usually don’t generate as much attention driving through a neighborhood as do males driving through,” he added.
The latest arrests involve a trio of Richmond residents, two of them women, who were spotted going door-to-door in the Five Lakes subdivision in Quinton around 11 p.m. on Sept. 23. A resident alerted Lt. Chris Hamlet who responded and encountered the group. Subsequently, investigators found a house in the area that had been burglarized and arrested the trio.
Facing one count each of burglary and grand larceny are Michael D. Gregory, 20, and Tiffany R. Smith, 24, both of 2314 Whitcomb Court, and Jasmine D. Burrell, 20, of 2322 Bethel Street. Investigators discovered a child inside the vehicle the trio drove and subsequently charged the group with felony child neglect. All were being held without bond in Henrico Jail East.
Last month, a circuit court grand jury indicted Laura Anne Yonon, 22, and Derrick Brandon Graham, 27, both of 2320 Kenwood Avenue in Henrico, on three counts each of burglary and grand larceny stemming from two break-ins on Aug. 24 and another on Sept. 3. Charges, meanwhile, are pending against another pair who authorities say went on a burglary spree in New Kent and several other counties.
And the mayhem continues. An investigation is under way into a burglary reported at a house in the 4900 block of North Waterside Drive, Lanexa. Electronic equipment, jewelry, cameras, and cash were reported stolen. Also, investigators are seeking leads in three grand larceny incidents in which a 2002 Ford F-150 pickup was reported stolen on Sept. 22 in the 4100 block of South Mountcastle Road; electronics, ammunition, and baseballs were taken from an address in the 11800 block of Cattail Road on Sept. 23; and a generator and large amount of copper taken Sept. 25 from a lot in the 2400 block of Dispatch Road.
Howard, meanwhile, praised the action taken by the resident in Five Lakes and said the recent burglary onslaught heightens the need for Neighborhood Watch groups to form and existing ones to revitalize.
“We’re encouraging neighborhoods that don’t have neighborhood watches and those that want to reactivate to contact the sheriff’s office,” he said.
Anyone interested in Neighborhood Watch should call 966-9500 and ask for Deputy Heath Jenkins. Anyone who has information about the recent crime spree should call the sheriff’s office or Crime Stoppers at 780-1000.