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Suspect breaks in, ransacks, cooks, then showers
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
Police say Jacob Merchant is the kind of burglar who not only takes things, but he brings things, too.
He brings things such as his own food, which he cooks in houses that he breaks into before availing himself of the facilities to shower before he leaves, authorities say.
Merchant, 33, who police say is homeless, is charged with three counts of burglary and two counts of breaking and entering. He’s accused in a series of incidents on the South Side that began Jan. 16 and culminated Wednesday morning with a burglary at a home in the first block of East Lucius Avenue.
Merchant, who was arrested by Detective Sgts. Ronald Rodway and Michael Cox Thursday after tips from the patrol division, is expected to be arraigned Monday in municipal court. He also is a suspect in several other unsolved burglary cases.
Rodway, who has been with the department more than 30 years and has investigated at least 150 homicides plus a score of other grisly crimes, said the case is one of the most bizarre he has had.
“I think it’s pretty unusual,” Rodway said. “He obviously spent hours in this lady’s [East Lucius] house.”
“He was in there for over four hours,” Cox added.
The woman came home from work at about 12:15 a.m. and found her kitchen ransacked, food all over and her stove used.
She then heard running water upstairs and went to check and found Merchant in her shower, reports said. The woman screamed, ran out of the house and called police from a nearby gas station. When patrol officers arrived, Merchant was gone.
“The bad thing is, he trashed the house,” Cox said.
The detectives said Merchant left behind food and clothes and other items. They concentrated on egg cartons he left behind and found out they were sold at only one gas station on the South Side. The pair went there and watched hours of surveillance video before spotting Merchant buying the eggs. They printed pictures from the video and emailed them to patrol officers, who instantly emailed back that they knew who the man was.
“This was good work by the turn guys knowing their beats and the people on their beats,” Rodway said.
Cox said when he and Rodway began questioning Merchant about the East Lucius Avenue burglaries, he admitted to a pair of burglaries at a LaBelle Avenue home and break-ins on Hillman Street and East Avondale Avenue. Cox said some of the items that were taken on Hillman Street were found at the East Lucius Avenue home.
Both detectives said Merchant has a lengthy criminal record for similar offenses and he makes a habit of using kitchens and bathrooms because he is homeless and is often looking to get out of the cold. They said he also takes pills, money and anything he can carry.
In April 2016, residents in the Hilton Avenue area caught Merchant and held him for police after he was suspected of taking food from one home at least four times within a week. He was charged with misdemeanor theft and receiving stolen property in those cases and was sentenced to six months in jail.