Officers Canvas for Burglary, Find Unrelated Burglary in Progress, Police Say

Police officers investigating one burglary caught an Arnold man in the act of burglarizing another home, police said.

Nathaniel Andrew Muich, 23, of the 2700 block of Tamarack Drive in Arnold, was charged with second-degree burglary and attempted felony theft.

St. Louis County Police said officers were canvassing a neighborhood in the 1200 block of Prigge Road in North County when they noticed a car backed into a driveway at a vacant home. The officers heard banging coming from the basement.

Police said Muich came out of the house to meet the officers and told them he was there on behalf of a contractor making sure the house was secure. Police confirmed he worked for the company, but had not been sent to the house and had no business there.

Officers found that copper pipe had been pulled from the basement ceiling and cut. They also found cutting tools on the kitchen counter, bolt cutters in the defendant’s car and copper pipe in his trunk.

Muich posted $2,000, 10 percent of a $20,000-bond, and was released from jail Friday.