Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1953-03-19
Invitation to Crime
Detailed Admissions Included
In Cases Jury Never Gets

QdyS Uc1OIc HIS dIlCSL, J1IIlU1lCU
a door in the TOO block of Third
street NV. and took a $75 cam
era, light meter and 500 worth
of jewelry. The camera was 10
Gated in one store and the jew
elry in another. In both cases,
the seller had given the store a
phony address. The house,
breaking victim identified her
property. The prisoner. when he
was arrested. admitted tn
charge. The two store proprie-
tors unhesitatingly picked his
picture out of a group of five as
the man who had sold them the
property.
Another housebreaker was &C
cuSed of 100 cases when arrested
in April. 1851. He was indicted
in three cases. Among the cases
which were not presented to the
grand jury was one where police
found his flngerprints in a ram
sacked apartment in the 3400
block Of Porter street NV. The
defendant admitted the charge
and said he sold the stolen
jewelry- estimated at $3O0-on
the street.
In another case involving the
same defendant, he pointed out
to police a house he had bur-
glarized but he commented that
when he had broken in the porch
had been enclosed with a storm
door.
In still mother case where he
pointed out the scene Of the
burglary. he said he got $50 not
the $85 reported to police, that
he threw away the bracelet he
found there and that he had to
lock the dog in the bathroom.
None of these cases, despite
the identifying details of the
confessions, were presented to
the grand jury. After this de-
PENDANT was finally indicted in
three cases, he was allowed to
plead guilty in two and the third
was dismissed. He was sentenced
to two terms of two to six years
each-to, run concurrently.
Safe Burglars Confer.
Safe burglars are among the
most difficult to catch because
they usually wear gloves and
have no trouble quickly disposing
of their unidentif1able loot
money. In these cases, detailed
admissions are considered i'm
portant evidence.
A gang of safe burglars was
caught last June and statements
taken separately from gang
members implicated them in 81
cases involving nearly $4,000
worth of property. The various
members of the gang were con-
fronted with the statements of
their confederates and six of
the eight confessed.
In one of these cases, one of
the gang members gave police
a signed statement in which he
told Of breaking into a garage
by smashing a window, stealing
a Cadillac and driving uptown.
He said the gang then got into
a store by pulling down the
blades Of a large exhaust fan
in a rear wall. The burglars, he
said, went into the front Office
where they found the safe,
which they rolled through the
back and loaded on the stores
truck. He said he drove the
truck while another member of
the gang, whom he named, fol-
lowed in the Cadillac.
They drove to a coal yard
near the railroad tracks. he went
on, and were working on the
safe, when police in a cruising
scout car spotted them and they
had to flee with the $500 they
had taken out Of one compart-
ment Of the safe. He then told
where they abandoned the Cad
lilac.
His statement-Subsequently
confirmed by his accomplices-
matched what police had learned
by investigation, except he said
the coal yard where the burglars
we're nearly caught was at First
street NV. when it was actual
~ First street NE.
Value Of Statements.
Police insisted that they did
not hand the facts to the burg
lars and then have them repeat
the details. The prisoners, po-
lice said. told their own stories.
Detectives pointed out that they
could learn a certain amount
through investigation but not