Posted on 02/13/2018 1:44:02 AM PST by raccoonradio
BARNSTABLE, Mass. -- Police have arrested a man dubbed the "obit bandit" who allegedly broke into multiple homes while grieving residents were attending funerals and wakes, CBS Boston reports.
Randy Brunelle, 35, was previously found guilty in 2012 of breaking into the home of a Sandwich police officer while he attended his mother's funeral. Brunelle served 18 months in jail for the crime. Since his release, police say Brunelle has used the same technique to burglarize other homes. On Friday night, police say they followed Brunelle's Honda Civic while detectives went to the homes of residents who were attending funeral services in the Barnstable, Massachusetts, area.
At one point, authorities discovered a burglary had occurred in Cotuit. Brunelle was subsequently pulled over as he drove home and officers say they located jewelry in his sweatshirt pockets, which led to his arrest When the homeowner returned from her mother's wake, she positively identified the jewelry as property that was stolen from the residence.
Brunelle was charged in connection with the burglary. He also faces charges for two similar incidents that happened in Osterville last September and December. Both crimes occurred while widows attended funeral services for their late husbands.
According to police, Brunelle is also suspected of breaking into homes in Plymouth and Mashpee.
Taking advantage of breaking in knowing the residents are away..recently Patriots player Rob Gronkowski’s home was burglarized; not sure if robbers knew it was his home, but if they did, they may have figured Gronk was off at the Super Bowl in Minneapolis.
Stealing from grieving relatives, in this case...
..
He’s a special kind of POS to steal from grieving people. Some criminal justice system—send this dirtbag away for a much longer sentence.
When my Dad passed away I made sure someone was guarding the house during the funeral. Told them it meant as much to do that as to be there in the church. I said park your car in the driveway & thanked them afterward. Nothing unusual here.
Everybody I know has a designated house sitter for funerals.
When my dad died, the wife of our then police chief insisted on staying at the house during the funeral. She stayed in the front room...watched an old van circle the block several times before leaving.
No doubt she saved us even more grief. (Yes, they went to our church.)
Serves 'em right! Getting tired of the sandwich police ragging on my for putting the mustard on the bread instead of on the meat...
The punishment for this should be throwing the guilty party into a hole in the ground and shoveling dirt over him.
Seems I recall something similar, but not related to funerals. It had to do with people driving in to a televangelist’s special meetings. Men at the gates would get license numbers, and then pass them on to someone at the P.D. to get the home addresses. The families would be robbed during the service.
An idea that should be pushed by police and funeral homes.
Not a new scam, happened to my mom and dad in 1957 when my brother died.
Sandwich is a town on Cape Cod...not too far from the Kennedy Compound IIRC (haven't been to the Cape in years).
Yes.Sandwich is one town while Barnstable is made of several villages including Hyannisport.
My grandmothers home was burglarized while we were at her funeral back in 1986.
I’d love to see the police in multiple jurisdictions set traps for thieves by publishing false obits.
Of course, the cure for this is to publish the obit AFTER the funeral - and you simply call (or have a friend call) those whom you’d like to attend the funeral. To me, the obit is about honoring the deceased for what they accomplished over their life, not to be an advertisement for the funeral.
Why I agree with Orin Porter Rockwell, “Nothing so vexes me as a thief above ground.” .
Being held on $25k bail
>>His lawyer says Brunelle developed an addiction to heroin after being prescribed painkillers for a back injury, and thought bail was too high because he stays home with his four children. (Bos Herald via Cape Cod Times)
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