Mugshot of Alan Beyer. Photo Credit: THE VIRGIN ISLANDS POLICE DEPARTMENT.
ST. THOMAS — A man is facing felony charges after police say surveillance footage connected him to break-ins at two businesses in Estate Susannaberg on St. John.
Officers were first alerted Wednesday morning, when the manager of a lumber and hardware store reported that the business had been burglarized. She told police she arrived at work just before 6:30 a.m. and found the cashier area ransacked.
While officers were photographing and processing that crime scene, another business owner approached them and reported that his restaurant and bar had also been burglarized.
Both businesses had video surveillance systems, and police were provided with footage from both incidents.
According to police, footage from the hardware store showed a man climbing through a window in the early hours of Wednesday morning. Once inside, he was seen rummaging through the cashier area and drawers, finding keys and using them to try to open the registers. Apparently unable to open them, the man reportedly took two drinks from a cooler and left the business.
Video from the restaurant, taken about half an hour later, showed a man wearing the same clothing approaching that establishment and attempting to open one set of shutters. When that failed, he moved to another shutter, lifted it and climbed into the kitchen area.
The footage captured him searching through the kitchen. Police say the man found and pocketed a mobile phone before continuing to search the business. After apparently finding nothing else, he left.
Although the man was masked, police say he lifted his face covering at some point during both break-ins. Officers said that allowed them to determine that the same person was involved in both incidents, and that the person was known to them as Alan Beyer.
Police located Beyer Thursday morning in Cruz Bay and detained him. Officers found a phone in his possession with no SIM card and its radios turned off in airplane mode.
Beyer reportedly told police he had just purchased the phone, but declined to say where he had bought it. He was arrested and taken to the police station, where the restaurant owner noted that the phone Mr. Beyer said he purchased was the same make and model as the one stolen from his business.
Beyer was charged with two counts each of third degree burglary and petit larceny. He was transported to St. Thomas and remanded into custody pending his advice of rights hearing.
In court Friday, Magistrate Julie Smith Todman found probable cause to uphold the charges against Mr. Beyer. Bail was maintained at $51,000, with 20% payable in cash to secure his release.
If released, Beyer must report in person to the Leander Jurgen Command police station twice each week and comply with the other standard bail conditions imposed by the magistrate.
His next court appearance is scheduled for July 2.
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