Crime & Safety
Alleged Brookline Lap Top Thief Arrested
There have been several reports of homes being broken into in Brookline, and laptops being taken. Monday a man was arrested in connection.
BROOKLINE, MA — Police arrested a man they believe broke into a home on Chestnut Place and stole a laptop on Monday, Dec. 4. This comes as Brookline Police were investigating several home break ins where laptops were stolen, including one on Elm Street on Dec. 4, an attempted break in on Roberts Street on Nov. 27 and one on St. Paul Street.
Police said they're not sure if the break ins are connected. They advise folks to keep laptops and other valuables out of sight from public view.
Eric Abdul-Nur, 28, homeless was arrested on Monday, Dec. 4 and charged at 10:59 a.m. with Breaking and entering during the daytime, putting a person in fear, Attempted breaking and entering, larceny and providing a false name during booking.
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A Chestnut Place resident called police at 9:49 a.m. to report she'd heard a noise in her home, stepped out in the hallway to check to see what it was and came face to face with a tall, thin black man wearing a checkered coat with a hoodie. He immediately took off. When she went downstairs she saw that her husband's laptop was missing and her purse was on the floor with its contents spilled out.
The responding police officer, Sargent Mike Raskin radioed the description to other Brookline units and noted the man should be carrying a laptop. A contractor working at a nearby house told Officer Amendola that he saw a man matching that description trying the front door at a home on Chestnut Place. He said because there had been work being done to that house recently he did not think anything was suspicious about him. He said he then later saw the same man headed into the woods behind the house.
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Another officer saw a man matching the description complete with laptop coming out of an alleyway on Chestnut Street between Prince Street and Kendall Street with a laptop under his arm. When he didn't respond to verbal inquiries, police stopped him near the corner of Kendall and Chestnut street. He told police his name was Hakeem Abdul-Nur and was headed to his cousin's but didn't have an address for that. Police arrested him and during the booking process his prints came back as belonging to Eric Abdul-Nur, not Hakeem.
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Photo by Jenna Fisher/Patch
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