Burglar Burrows From One Store to Another
Robber hits the same row of stores 15 times, knocking his way through cheaply built ceilings and walls.
ARREST CAPS $7,000 BURGLARY SPREE
Jan. 8, 1987—A man suspected in 15 consecutive burglaries on a single block of Rockaway Parkway was arrested Friday night as he allegedly tried to break his way into a store, police report.
Twenty-seven-year old Ronald Hale of St. Albans, Queens, has been charged with one count of attempted burglary and may face further charges, according to Community Affairs Officer Warren Neal of the 69th Precinct.
According to the district attorney’s office, Hale was arraigned Monday on one count of attempted burglary, third degree, and is awaiting trial before a grand jury. By midweek Hale had not made bail, set at $750, the district attorney’s office said.
Detectives believe Hale was responsible for all 15 break-ins, a suspicion that is supported by the cessation of burglaries on the block since Hale’s arrest, according to Officer Neal.
However, detectives are still seeking further evidence in the string of burglaries on the section of Rockaway Parkway between Farragut Road and Glenwood Road, Officer Neal said.
Merchants reported losses of more than $7,000 in the series of break-ins, which took place between December 22 and January 2, according to Neal.
The largest cash loss in any of the burglaries was about $450, he said. The merchandise taken was mostly “small goods”—including a cash register, a bakery scale and cigarettes.
It is “very unusual” to have so many burglaries in one small area in so short a time span, Officer Neal stated. He said police suspected a single individual or team was involved after the second break-in
The merchants on that block were “understandably upset,” he said. Police held a meeting with the merchants on Christmas Eve, and the 69th Precinct “tripled” its foot patrols in that area.
Captain Peter Quinn was “very concerned” about the rash of burglaries, Neal reported. “No measures were to be spared.” The beefed up patrols would have been continued as long as necessary to collar the perpetrators, he said.
All 15 break-ins were at night and were accomplished in similar ways—busting through windows, roofs and walls. In some case, the burglar would enter one business then “burrow through” to another by way of an interior wall, said Neal.
The precinct now believes that the burglaries were committed by an individual rather than a team. “All indications point that way,” Officer Neal stated.
All but three of the business on that block were struck in the week-and-a-half period, he added. He said the break-ins did not include the fire station or bus depot on that block.
Looking Back
What I’ve never forgotten about this crime is the way that burglar was a sort of squirrel, burrowing through roofs and walls to rob a whole string of stores at once. That block of Rockaway Parkway was a lineup of small, cheaply built retail spaces (it might have been a single long building). The construction was so lightweight and generally poor that this burglar was able to break into them with few or no tools. I picture him doing it mainly with his feet. It was such easy pickings the first time that he came back 14 more times.
I remember that block as a kind of diorama of urban decay. Each store a study in nondescript plainness at best, in outright self-contemptuous ugliness and non-welcome at worst. The stores were all one-story and far from impervious looking—they were practically a taunt to any burglar who didn’t try breaking in. It was such an unpleasant row of storefronts, with such an air of “get the fuck away,” that I would cross the street to avoid walking beside them. It was one of those store owners who got busted for having a one-armed bandit inside, a cheery, ritzy gambling appliance, most likely the highlight of the street, but it was illegal and had to go.
This story first appeared in The Canarsie Courier, a Brooklyn Newspaper, in Jan. 1987