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Suspect sought in break-ins
By Ed Runyan
WEATHERSFIELD
Police have issued an arrest warrant for a 24-year-old Weathersfield Town-ship man they believe worked with a 16-year-old newspaper carrier to commit five break-ins in the township.
Ryan Fritz of Garfield Avenue is charged in Niles Municipal Court with six counts of felony breaking and entering as well as two counts of theft and one of receiving stolen property.
Police Chief Joseph Consiglio said five of the break-in charges, one of the thefts and the receiving stolen property relate to offenses committed in Weathersfield.
The 16-year-old also has been charged by Weathersfield police with one count of burglary, five counts of breaking and entering and one count of theft, Consiglio said.
Fritz and the 16-year-old carrier also face charges for crimes committed in McDonald and Niles, Consigio said.
Niles police reported two weeks ago that the 16-year-old from Niles, carrying papers for a Warren publication, had been arrested and taken to the Trumbull County Juvenile Justice Center for his role in the theft of a handgun from a home on Russell Avenue in Niles in October.
McDonald Police Chief Lou Ronghi said Fritz and the 16-year-old were suspects in two burglaries and five break-ins that occurred last in mid-November on Sixth Street, Dakota Avenue and Utah Avenue in McDonald.
Ronghi said it appears the newspaper carrier was participating in break-ins in McDonald in the early morning hours before delivering newspapers.
Consiglio said it appears the carrier had become familiar with the neighborhoods that were robbed through his paper route but didn’t commit any break-ins while delivering the newspapers.
The McDonald and Weathersfield break-ins involved sheds and garages, Ronghi and Consiglio said. In McDonald, tools, snowblowers, pressure washers, a global-positioning device, gas cans and a chainsaw were taken.