2 Greenwich Police Officers Honored For Burglary Investigation

GREENWICH, CT — Two Greenwich Police officers were honored with Letters of Recognition for their response and investigation relating to a burglary which happened in Greenwich in July.

Lt. Martin O'Reilly presented officers Sabrina Diaz and Kevin Izzo with the letters earlier this week.

Police said Asbel Isaias Juarez, 27, of Port Chester, N.Y., broke into a home in the Chickahominy section of Greenwich and stole a woman's laptop in the early morning hours of July 26.

Juarez was charged with first-degree burglary, sixth-degree larceny, and disorderly conduct., police said.

Police began an investigation after a woman walked into Greenwich Police headquarters following the incident and filed a complaint regarding a possible burglary that occurred at her home in Chickahominy.

After investigating, police said Juarez, who had a protective order against him from the victim, used a credit card to break his way into the woman's home around 2 a.m. Police said Juarez stole the woman's laptop on his way out of the house.

According to the arrest report, "the arrestee later confessed to breaking in and entering the victim's residence, and later stealing her laptop in a sworn written statement."

Capt. Mark Zuccerella of the GPD said the relationship Diaz and Izzo built with the victim helped bring the case to a successful conclusion.

"The investigation done by the two officers was important because of some of the dynamics of the case. The victim was a little apprehensive and fearful. The relationship Officers Diaz and Izzo were able to get with the victim, they made her comfortable enough to explain what happened. It's not uncommon in situations like this where victims don't want to relive what happened," Zuccerella said. "Through investigating and talking to the offenders friends and other police related things, they were able to contradict everything the offender said. They presented that to him, and there ended up being probable cause to arrest him."

Sabrina and Diaz received the case at 10 a.m. on July 26, and by midnight later that day it was wrapped up, a difficult feat for patrol officers since they don't have the same networking capabilities as detectives, Zuccerella said. Izzo has been with the department for about four years, and Sabrina has three years in Greenwich.

"That's extremely good work that they did. The documentation of everything, the different reports and different statements they had to get, the usage of electronic evidence... Just an excellent case," Zuccerella said.