58°
NORWALK, Conn. A Stamford man with a history of burglary convictions was arrested by Norwalk police Sunday morning after he was caught emerging from the Rowayton woods during a manhunt prompted by a report of an attempted car break-in, Sgt. Lisa Cotto said.
Police received a 4 a.m. report of a man trying to pick the door lock on a vehicle parked in a driveway at 22 Ensign Road, Cotto said. The complainant said he had banged on the window, and the would-be thief took off on a bicycle, according to the report.
Police searched the neighborhood and found a bicycle in the yard at Roton Avenue and Crockett Street, Cotto said. Its owner said it had been in the garage and didn't know why it was outside.
Officer Garrett Kruger spotted a suspect going into a car at 72 Roton Ave., Cotto said. The suspect saw Kruger and ran into the thick woods behind the home, she said.
Kruger and Kimbo, a K-9 officer, checked Drum Road and then Juniper Road, where they spotted the suspect, William Valentine, 47, of 74 Seaton Road in Stamford, with a bicycle, Cotto said. Valentine was sweating profusely, had dirt all over his head and clothes, and his pants were ripped on the back of the left leg. Police found a pair of work gloves nearby.
Valentine said he didnt remember what he had been doing and didnt know where he was, Cotto said. He then said he had been urinating in the Ensign Road driveway when someone banged on a window, and he left. He said he ran from Kruger because he is on parole, Cotto said. He saw a bicycle in someones yard and took it, he said.
Valentine had a backpack containing two cellphones and two iPod chargers, police said. He was charged with larceny, two counts of criminal trespass and interfering with an officer, all misdemeanors. Bond was set at $2,500.
Valentine was sentenced to three years in prison after being found guilty of burglary in January 2009 in a Greenwich case, and is on parole. In 2005 he was convicted of burglary; he also has several narcotics convictions.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Norwalk and receive free news updates.
