An Overlea man has been charged with nine burglaries in northwest Baltimore County and is a suspect in more than a dozen others, police said yesterday.
Eddie J. Goff, 37, of the 7400 block of Beech Ave. was arrested Wednesday after he dived through the window of a home in the 100 block of Nob Hill Park Drive in Reisterstown, where police were investigating a report of a burglary in progress, authorities said.
"The next thing we knew he is diving out the bedroom window - fist first, headfirst - and there are four officers right there, and they pick him up and arrest him," said Cpl. Vickie Warehime, a Baltimore County police spokeswoman.
Police said they were able to connect Goff to a series of burglaries in Reisterstown and Owings Mills since June 13. He was charged with nine counts of first-degree burglary. Police said more than $30,000 worth of money and jewelry was taken from nine houses.
In addition, the Maryland State Police released a statement yesterday saying Goff is a suspect in a series of Carroll County burglaries.
Goff was denied bail yesterday. He is being held at the Baltimore County Detention Center.
Warehime said detectives from Baltimore and Howard counties and the state police have been investigating a rash of burglaries for weeks.
Baltimore County police interviewed Goff on Wednesday, Warehime said.
Police said they learned that homes were targeted during the day when the occupants were usually at work. Only homes that were not equipped with security systems or not guarded by large dogs were broken into, according to charging documents.
Warehime said that sometimes "three or four burglaries a day" were committed.
Goff is accused of stealing 200 pieces of jewelry, none of which has been recovered. In one burglary, a homeowner reported that $20,600 in cash and jewelry was stolen.
"When asked, he stated there was not one person who had it," Warehime said, reading from his charging documents. "He said he would throw the junk jewelry in the nearest Dumpster he could find and traded the good jewelry to drug dealers for drugs."
