'Obit Burglar' Stole $20,000 In Property From Greenwich Home: PD

GREENWICH, CT — A New York woman accused of burglarizing the homes of bereaved spouses in the region has been charged in a Greenwich burglary, according to police. On Wednesday, Latonia Shelecia Stewart, 28, of Bronx, N.Y., was extradited from Westchester County, N.Y., to Connecticut on burglary and larceny charges, police said.

Stewart was identified as a suspect in an October 2017 residential burglary that occurred in the western section of town, in which over $20,000 in property was stolen, police said.

A warrant was later issued for her arrest, and she was charged with first-degree larceny, first-degree burglary and second-degree burglary.

In August, Stewart was arraigned following a 22-count indictment by the Westchester County Grand Jury.

See also: DA: Burglaries Targeted Homes Of Bereaved Spouses

Prosecutors said Stewart looked up obituaries online and targeted homes of individuals she believed would not be home because they were attending services, according to Westchester County District Attorney Anthony Scarpino Jr.

At some of the residences, she broke windows and glass doors to enter, using a mallet hammer which police said they located under the seat of her vehicle when she was apprehended.

When the people returned home, they found their home burglarized. They reported jewelry and other personal property missing. The break-ins started in fall 2017 and ended in spring 2018.

On May 1, 2018, Greenburgh Police, after watching Stewart for some time, said they saw her driving away from a deceased person's home and stopped her car on the Sprain Brook Parkway. Jewelry was found in plain view inside the vehicle, and she also had an obituary on her cellphone, authorities said.

Police took Stewart into custody and later searched both her car and her Bronx residence, where they found more stolen items and burglar's tools.

The charges against Stewart stemmed from six incidents in Rye Brook, Cortlandt, Scarsdale, Irvington (Town of Greenburgh), Ossining and Tarrytown, and the DA also noted she faced charges for burglaries in Greenwich and Carmel, N.Y.