After a five-month hunt that used detectives, reward money and an automated phone dialing system, police have captured a man they believe to be a cat burglar who broke into nearly a dozen homes in the Towson and Overlea areas.
City officers arrested Anthony Ray Westmoreland, 32, outside a home Monday evening in the 1600 block of Ellsworth St. in East Baltimore.
Officers patrolling the neighborhood spotted Westmoreland, who was wanted on two city warrants charging him with breaking and entering, and arrested him without incident, said Agent Robert W. Weinhold Jr., a city police spokesman. Westmoreland was being held yesterday at the Baltimore City Detention Center and is scheduled for a bail review hearing tomorrow.
Westmoreland has been charged in Baltimore County warrants with breaking into 11 homes and stealing $20,000 in property. County detectives identified a suspect in November from evidence taken from the homes and pawnshop records.
In December, county police began using their automated telephone dialing system to call hundreds of homes in the area where Westmoreland was suspected of hiding.
The system automatically dialed homes in Waverly, Charles Village, Clifton Park and several other neighborhoods with a recorded message that Westmoreland was wanted by police and had been seen in those areas.
It was the first time that county police had used the computer-assisted dialer in an attempt to catch a suspect, said spokesman Bill Toohey. The system usually is used to warn residents of crime trends in their neighborhood.
Westmoreland was captured in one of the targeted neighborhoods, but Toohey said it was unclear whether the calls led to the arrest.
Pub Date: 1/01/97
