Derby Man Charged In Connection With Fairfield Burglary: Police

FAIRFIELD, CT — A Derby man was recently arrested and charged in connection with a burglary that occurred at a Fairfield residence while the woman who lived there was home, police said.

Henry Crespo, 52, of Hawkins Street, is set to appear in court in the coming days after he was arrested Feb. 12 and charged with conspiracy to commit third-degree burglary and conspiracy to commit third-degree larceny, according to police.

The theft happened about 3:30 p.m. Aug. 8 at a duplex on Chambers Street, police said. The resident was doing laundry in her basement when she saw a car park in her driveway and a man walk through her backyard, according to police. She heard footsteps going up the back stairs to her second-floor unit and, several minutes later, saw two men get in the car and drive away, police said.

The woman discovered a spare key she kept hidden near the door was gone and found an empty beer can abandoned on her back steps, according to police. More than $2,000 worth of electronic equipment, including an iPhone 8 and an iPad Air, was stolen, police said.

While officers were at the scene, the woman’s phone was reactivated, with its GPS indicating it was at the Wireless Wizard store in Bridgeport, according to police. The woman called the store, and an employee told her a man was at the retailer trying to sell her phone, police said. The worker agreed to try to stall the man and detectives went to the store, but by the time they arrived, the man was gone, according to police.

However, a store employee used her phone to photograph the suspect’s car, a gray 2004 Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder GS that looked like the vehicle the woman saw in her driveway, police said.

“We want to thank them for their quick thinking and for their assistance in this investigation,” Lt. Antonio Granata said in an email.

The Mitsubishi’s registry and a DNA analysis of the beer can left at the woman’s home led law enforcement to Crespo, who admitted to being at the Chambers Street property with a second man, who stole the electronics, according to police. An arrest warrant was issued for Crespo, police said.

Crespo has been released from custody on a promise to appear in court and is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday, according to court records.