Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Police stop prolific Northland thief


Last week, a man broke into his neighbor’s home at 55th and North Woodland. He knocked on the door, and when a developmentally disabled teenager answered it, he pushed his way inside and stole a laptop computer. He left, then came back and stole more. Then, he started making threatening calls to the victims. On Dec. 21, police caught up with the man they believe to be the theft suspect, 32-year-old Brandon Seys, but he refused to stop for officers. They pursued him, but Seys eluded them and drove through a fence at Davidson Elementary School. Realizing Seys could be a serious danger to the public, police called off the pursuit. But they later found his truck outside his girlfriend’s house at Barry Road and Evanston. They obtained a search warrant for the property and found a large stash of stolen goods.

The Shoal Creek Patrol Division’s property room now is full of stolen items – many power tools and pieces of construction equipment, but also a lawnmower, laptop computers, purses, cell phones, even a child’s ceramic bank with change inside. Police believe Seys was stealing from cars, homes and retail stores. Detectives have identified several of the victims and are continuing to do so. They’re coming from all over the city. Detectives also conducted a residence check at Seys’ parents’ home and recovered the laptop stolen from his neighbors and returned it to them.

Seys has been charged with burglary in Clay County and is being held on $100,000 bond. With Seys’ incarceration, detectives of the Shoal Creek Property Crimes Section believe they’ve stopped a major source of property crime both north of the River and in the metro area. He is on parole for assault on a law enforcement officer and has only been out of custody since Sept. 1. Since that time, police thinking he actively had been stealing in Kansas City.

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