He is suspected of being a one-man crime wave who for months preyed on some of Baltimore's most historic enclaves by breaking into homes and stealing their most prized treasures.
Missing items -- most of which will likely never be recovered -- include century-old cast-iron light fixtures from Victorian Bolton Hill, ornate window grates from Charles Village and kerosene lamps from Madison Park.
"He likes expensive things," said Maj. Steven McMahon, commander of the Central District police station.
Albert Leander Johnson, 33, was arrested last week and charged in two of the Bolton Hill burglaries in which a post-Civil War baby carriage was taken from one house and a marble table from the other.
But police documents state that Johnson has admitted his involvement in up to 86 break-ins and thefts since July in which residents lost an estimated $56,688 in property. Though police say Johnson will not be charged in the cases, they have closed the files based on his statements.
McMahon said police are investigating two secondhand shops in Southeast Baltimore and an antiques dealer in Virginia who they believe skirted laws requiring them to record transactions to help trace stolen merchandise.
The crimes sent victims scouring secondhand shops throughout the city -- often searching for their own property at the same places the burglar used to unload the stolen merchandise.
Police said most of the stolen items were sold for a fraction of their cost. A pine fireplace mantel with mirror worth $2,000 was hawked for $75. A Victorian-age baby carriage valued at $1,500 brought $125 at a Fleet Street second-hand shop.
"They tore my house completely up," said Wilbert Bevans, 73, who lost an oak kitchen table, six chairs and two cabinets filled with china. His grandparents had brought the furniture, built in the late 1800s, to Baltimore from Virginia at the turn of the century.
"They don't make furniture like that anymore," said Bevans, who estimated his loss in the thousands of dollars. "How does someone walk out of a house with a big dining room table and china, and not anyone see it?"
Victims are most astonished by the burglar's ingenuity. A dining room table and chairs were taken from one house without anyone stopping the thief. A poster frame was painstakingly unscrewed from the wall at another. The burglar allegedly used a beige van with the word "antique" written on the side to make his hauls appear legitimate.
