More Shenanigans In Vernon For Homeless Man With 21 Convictions: Cops

VERNON, CT — A homeless man who had 21 convictions over the past nine years was recently arrested twice in less than a week, Vernon police said.

According to an arrest report, at 11:46 a.m. on March 20, police went to 200 Union. St. after receiving a report that someone had broken into the house. The address is a dilapidated, house that municipal officials have determined to be "uninhabitable" that sits amount several auto repair shops, used car lots and pharmacies.

According to an arrest report, police located 53-year-old Casey Speers on the property, apparently after he broke into the home through a window. He had already been told to stay away from the property, according to an arrest report.

Speers was subsequently charged with first-degree criminal trespass, records show.

Five days earlier, at 1:24 p.m., Vernon police received a call from Rocky's Hardware at 73 Windsor Ave. about a man who had just stolen a shopping cart. The man was headed west on Windsor Avenue, according to an arrest report.

It was Speers, police said, who made it all the way to another bastion of shopping carts — Stop & Shop, before being corralled by police.

Speers claimed he was going to return the cart, but was arrested and charged with sixth-degree larceny, police said.

The Connecticut judicial system database shows that Speers has been convicted 21 times since 2015 of various offenses ranging from petty theft, to trespassing to drunken driving to skipping court dates to infractions.

He was last sentenced in April 2023 and was ordered to spend 120 days in jail for first-degree criminal trespass, records show.