By Alex Christodoulides
A 25-year-old Brooklyn man suspected of being the Forest Hills cat burglar and linked to four residential break-ins since May in the 112th Precinct has been arraigned on charges stemming from the theft of thousands of dollars' worth of jewelry and electronic equipment, the Queens district attorney said last week.
Jamal Williams, 25, of Brooklyn, was arraigned Saturday before Queens Criminal Court Judge Barry Kron on four separate complaints charging him with multiple counts of burglary, grand larceny and criminal possession of stolen property, DA Richard Brown said.
Williams, who faces up to 60 years in prison if convicted, was ordered held on $175,000 bail and ordered to return to court July 3, the DA said.
The charges stem from incidents beginning just after midnight May 25, according to the criminal complaint filed by the DA's office, when Williams allegedly climbed through a first-floor apartment window of a building on the 67th Avenue block of Yellowstone Boulevard. Once inside, Williams is accused of stealing a flat-screen television, a Bulova watch and a North Face jacket, the DA said.
A second complaint charges that Williams entered a first-floor apartment on the 65th Avenue block of 108th Street May 27 while the occupant was asleep and stole a purse containing credit and debit cards and $5.
Less than a week later, on June 2, a third criminal complaint charges that Williams climbed through another first-floor window on the 66th Road block of 108th Street and stole a Toshiba laptop computer.
On the evening of June 18, Williams climbed into a first-floor apartment window on the 102nd Street block of 67th Avenue and stole a Rolex watch, a diamond engagement ring, an iPod, a cell phone, a gold necklace and various credit and debit cards, a fourth criminal complaint charges.
The doorman of the Yellowstone Boulevard building had observed Williams in the lobby earlier in the day of the first burglary, and police confirmed the report when they reviewed video footage from a building surveillance camera, the DA said.
Williams was caught on camera again at a Washington Mutual Bank ATM just a few blocks from the location of the second burglary, attempting to use a debit card taken from that break-in, the DA said.
Police from the 112th Precinct arrested Williams Friday, the DA said. At the time of his arrest, Williams allegedly admitted entering the apartments through the windows and that he sold the television from the first burglary to a Jamaica pawn shop for $150, the laptop from the third burglary to an individual in Jamaica for $200 and the Rolex watch from the fourth burglary to a Brooklyn resident, DA Brown said.
Other break-ins in the area were being investigated, Brown said.
