Home Burglar Crawled Through Hole To Evade Cleveland Police

CLEVELAND — Police are looking for a man that broke into a home on E. 126th Street and then crawled through a hole to avoid officers. Surveillance cameras inside the house recorded the man's image.

The break-in happened in the early morning on Nov. 20. The home that was broken into was unoccupied because the house had caught fire 10 days earlier. The owner of the home was staying with relatives nearby and monitoring their home through security cameras.

The woman's security system was triggered, she saw the man inside her home through her cameras, and called police. When officers arrived, the man crawled through a hole he made on the home and took off running. Officers scoured the area but couldn't find the suspect.

A bag with tools used to break into homes was found near the house. Footprints in the snow led to a fence behind the E. 126th street house.

The resident was allowed to walk through the house, after police cleared it, to see what had been taken. A large Vizio television was missing, but it's unclear if anything else was stolen, according to police records.

Police believe they may be able to pull the man's fingerprints from the house. On surveillance footage, he is seen turning one of the cameras with an un-gloved hand.

The suspect is a black man, with a neatly trimmed beard. He was wearing and oversized black coat, with bunched up sleeves, and what appears to be a black Adidas cap. His image is above this article.

Anyone with information regarding the identity of the man is asked to call Cleveland Police at 216-623-5418.

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Photo from Cleveland Police