Crime & Safety
ICYMI: Burglar Forgets Pastries in Home, Gets Two Years in Prison
Paul Thames was sentenced to two years in state prison for a breaking and entering in Brookline, during which he forgot his box of éclairs.

NEWTON, MA – A burglar with a penchant for baked goods admitted Thursday to breaking into a Brookline apartment four years ago and leaving behind his iced tea and a box of éclairs.
Paul Thames, 55, of Newton, pled guilty in Norfolk Superior Court to charges of breaking and entering in the daytime for a felony and possession of burglarious tools in the botched burglary of an apartment on Hammond Street in 2012.
According to the Norfolk County District Attorney's office, Thames tripped an alarm and fled the scene before he could steal anything.
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In his haste to leave, he forgot his tools and his dessert, according to the DA's office.
"A good neighbor called police after the alarm in an interior room sounded," Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey said after Thames pled guilty. "He must have been spooked, because he left the screwdriver he had used to jimmy the door and left behind the box of éclairs and jug of ice tea he had brought along as a snack."
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Thames was gone from the apartment by the time police arrived; they found pry marks on the door of the building, a smashed dead bolt on the apartment door and the keypad popped off of the wall.
A fingerprint on the box of éclairs and DNA on the screwdriver were matched to Thames, Morrissey said. He was ultimately linked to similar incidents in the area.
Thames was sentenced to two years in state prison.
Story originally published August 4.
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