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Two Arrested For Burglaries

A spate of burglaries within the past several days has landed two persons in prison. In some cases one of them reportedly used a hammer to smash glass doors and windows thus allowing the other accomplice to enter the buildings to carry out the robberies.

L-R: Sergeant Yearwood, Dept. Comm. Richardson, Insp. Sinclair and Ag. Insp. Brooks

Police reported on Wednesday, June 4, that the burglaries were committed at business places in the Valley and Stoney Ground areas. Those held by the police are Ronrico Rogers of Cauls Bottom who is charged with six burglaries and Jerome Huggins also of Cauls Bottom who is charged with several of the offences. Rogers, who recently served a prison sentence for similar offences, appeared before the Magistrate’s Court and was remanded in custody.

The young men were arrested after they were caught on the camera at the Liqour Store in the Valley committing the offences. Some of the stolen items were recovered including three cash registers which were abandoned some distance away.

In reporting the incidents, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Illidge Richardson, said the men would not have been identified were it not for the camera. He called on the public to be security conscious and to install the necessary equipment for their protection and to assist the police in finding the offenders.

The burglaries were part of a number of crimes reported by the police for the period May 28 - June 4. Rogers and Huggins were among eight persons arrested. Two of the other six were arrested to prevent a breach of the peace; one for possession of cannabis and cocaine; one for child abuse; one for grievous bodily harm and another for being armed with an offensive weapon – a gun.

In all, 24 crimes were committed during the period and 8 of them were burglaries. Five occurred in the Valley, one at Stoney Ground and one at Corito. The stolen items included clothing, three cash registers with small amounts of money; in another case a purse with a sum of US currency, an Anguillian driver’s licence, an NBA Card, an American Express Card, a Dutch bank book, four digital cameras, a camcorder, a pair of binoculars, an Ipod and two cellular phones.

There were two reports of attempted burglaries at Long Ground and Stoney Ground. Six thefts were reported. They occurred at The Valley, Little Bay, two at South Hill, one at Sandy Hill and another on the Jeremiah Highway. The items stolen included three credit cards along with money; two Ipods, a cellular phone, a digital camera, drapes, six goats (later found) and two puppies.

There was one report of robbery when two masked men, one said to have branded a gun, staged a robbery at North Hill. Stolen was a purse containing a bank card, credit card, a cellular phone and a sum of US currency.

Other offences were forgery, wounding, possession of illegal drugs and criminal damage to vehicles.

Inspector Paul Sinclair of the Police Task Force, said there was an increased in police road checks in the east and west of the island. “These will continue because we have a lot of outstanding stolen property,” he stated. “We now have evidence that a firearm was produced in order to commit one of the robberies so our vigilance in relation to stop and search will increase and we apologise for any inconvenience caused to commuters going to work and other persons; but it is a vital part of our fight against crime.”

Mr. Sinclair also reported that a 31-year-old national of Santo Domingo, who is believed to have been previously expelled from Anguilla, was found again on the island residing at South Hill. The man, B.E., was arrested on Wednesday pending his appearance in the Magistrate’s Court. Evidence revealed that he entered Anguilla at The Cove from St. Martin and was facilitated by persons living in Anguilla. “The clear message has to be that if people living here facilitate the illegal entry of persons from abroad, they will face the consequences of the law. It is a serious offence and a matter that we will vigorously investigate,” Mr. Sinclair stressed.

In another matter, Sergeant Marva Brooks, of the Traffic Department, reported that 54 fixed penalty tickets were issued during the period under review and that four persons will be prosecuted. There were ten road accidents, eight minor, one serious and the other undetected. There were a total of 42 accidents for May of which 3 were serious.

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