Career Burglar Charged in Connection with Waltham Housebreaks

A longtime B&E (breaking-and-entering) man has been charged with multiple counts of receiving stolen property for dozens of items stolen from Waltham and other suburban homes. The goods were recovered from his apartment during the execution of a search warrant this summer, said Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley.

Craig Cromartie, 44, of Dorchester was arraigned yesterday in Dorchester District Court on 10 counts of receiving stolen property. Assistant District Attorney Nicole Poirier recommended that he be held on $50,000 cash bail – $5,000 for each docketed offense – and that his bail on similar open cases out of Middlesex, Norfolk, and Worcester counties be revoked. Judge Robert Tochka imposed $5,000 bail and ordered that Cromartie wear a GPS monitoring device if he posts that amount.

Amid a long-term, multi-agency investigation, Cromartie was arrested this summer for housebreaks he allegedly committed in Norfolk County. Evidence developed in the course of that investigation led Boston Police to Cromartie’s apartment on Dunkfeld Street in Dorchester, where detectives executed a search warrant on June 18. They recovered designer handbags, electronics, jewelry, collectible coins, and clothing believed to have been stolen.

Those articles were subsequently linked to break-ins in Waltham, Arlington, Brookline, Framingham, Medford and Newton through 2011 and early 2012 and were identified by their rightful owners. Boston Police then sought complaints against Cromartie for knowingly possessing the stolen items. Additional charges may be forthcoming.

Prosecutors noted Cromartie’s criminal past for the court. He has a 27-page record with adult convictions dating back to 1985. He has been found guilty of breaking and entering in the daytime, breaking and entering in the nighttime, larceny over $250, larceny under $250, larceny by check, identity fraud, assault and battery, assault with a dangerous weapon, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, assault and battery on a public employee, robbery, burglary, possession of burglarious tools, forgery, uttering, counterfeiting a Registry of Motor Vehicles document, giving a false name, distribution of a Class B substance, and other offenses in Essex, Middlesex, Norfolk, Suffolk, and Worcester counties.

Cromartie was represented by attorney Isaac Borenstein. He will return to court on Nov. 1.