Transient Accused Of Burglary, AR-15 Rifle Theft In Nashua

NASHUA, NH — A Gate City transient is facing felony charges after being accused of burglarizing an apartment in Ternbury Square on Sunday.

Police were sent to the apartment after the parents of a tenant came by one of the units to walk a dog owned by their son. When they arrived at around 6:30 p.m., they found the apartment “in disarray” and called him to let him know. The victim asked his family members to see if his AR-15 was stolen and they told him that it had been, along with other items, and police were requested to the apartment.

Even though he was out of the city, in another state, the victim was able to access surveillance video from a Ring doorbell which showed a white man with long hair and a scruffy beard entering the apartment about two hours before. The man was also wearing a blue T-shirt with red and white lettering and a baseball cap, on backward. The man was also carrying a trash bag, the report said.

Eight minutes later, the man was seen leaving the apartment and the bag appeared to be full, an affidavit stated. A “long, cylindrical object” appeared to be inside the bag. Also missing was jewelry and ammunition, the report stated.

The victim and his girlfriend returned to Nashua and met with police when they got home. The victim, at that point, told police he believed he knew who burglarized his home — Peter Rich, 21, of no fixed address in Nashua.

The victim stated he was with another family member and a man at the same time he received the Ring notification earlier in the day. The man he was with, he said, got up from the table to use his phone, something the victim stated was “odd.” When eyeing the surveillance video, the suspect was “seen looking at his phone as he walks up to the house,” an affidavit stated. Later, the victim began looking through the Facebook account of the man he was with and found Rich, using a false name, the report said. The report stated, “Peter is wearing the same T-shirt as is seen in the video surveillance.” The victim told detectives the other man had been to his home recently and was aware of the locations of his firearms, the affidavit said.

Detectives looked at the Facebook site as well as the Ring video, compared the photos, and “believed it to be the same male seen in each,” the report stated. They attempted to find Rich but were unable to, the affidavit said.

On Sunday, Rich was questioned at Nashua police headquarters and denied the burglary even when presented with photos of himself and the suspect with the same clothes on.

“It must be someone who simply looks like him and has the same T-shirt,” the officer wrote, of Rich's denial, in the affidavit.

Rich was arrested and charged with burglary and theft by unauthorized taking-firearm charges, both felonies. He faces up to 22 years in prison plus fines if convicted. Rich was held on preventive detention and was scheduled to be arraigned on Monday.

Nashua police are asking anyone with information about the case to contact the Crime Line at 603-589-1665.

Editor's note: This post was derived from information supplied by the Nashua Police Department and does not indicate a conviction. This link explains the removal request process for New Hampshire Patch police reports.

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