Conscience Got Better of Would-Be Burglar, He Says After Arrest

At 11:16 a.m. Tuesday, two 19-year-old Milwaukee men were arrested on suspicion of attempted burglary after an alert citizen called police to say she suspected they had broken into her neighbor’s home in the 6300 block of West Clarke Street.

The two admitted their intentions, according to police reports. But in the end, one of the young men would be charged only with criminal damage to property, and the other, so far, isn't charged at all.

Jelani Hasan Spencer of Milwaukee was charged Thursday in Milwaukee County Circuit Court with the misdemeanor, but an assistant district attorney said the details of his case would be read in along with a number of other burglary charges pending against him in Walworth County.

According to police reports:

The resident told an officer she had seen Spencer and his companion on the sidewalk and then saw the head into her neighbor’s back yard. Ten minutes later, Spencer emerged with something covered by a white cloth in his hands and walked to a car parked down the street.

The woman called police and gave them descriptions of the two men and the car, and while the first officer on the scene was talking to her at her front door, she spotted one of the suspects walking down the street.

She reported that to another officer just arriving, and he stopped the man, while another officer yet spotted the car and the second suspect.

Officers found that the two had pried a window out of the victim's home but hadn't entered. Both men admitted the act, and Spencer said it was he who had broken out the window. The object seen in his hands was the pry bar, covered by a white T-shirt.

However, Spencer said, after prying out the window, his conscience got the better of him, as he heard his mother's voice in his head telling him how ashamed she would be if he committed burglary – again.

Spencer has 12 pending charges, four for burglary from rooms within a building, seven for theft of property and one for possession of THC, all from when he was recently a freshman at UW-Whitewater.

He told police he had been expelled from the school after being caught breaking into the mail room and had also been traced to burglaries and thefts from dorm rooms.

He also told officers that he had decided to commit a burglary to try to "make good" the money he had lost when he had been robbed about a week and a half earlier on the streets of Milwaukee.

Wauwatosa police requested burglary charges against both Spencer and his companion in the Clarke Street incident, but the District Attorney's Office filed the reduced charge of criminal damage to property against Spencer and no charges yet against the other teenager, who told police he was to act as a lookout.

Spencer has a pre-trial conference scheduled for April 4, and Milwaukee County will notify Walworth County about his arrest, Tosa police said.

Neighbor hears 'banging' but doesn't report it

A resident of the 10700 block of West Garfield Avenue reported Tuesday that between 6:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. someone broke into her home and stole electronics and jewelry.

The victim said that when she came home from work she found the door ajar. She immediately retreated and called 911, then returned with some friends before officers arrived.

They found two TV sets, an iPod Touch and an antique jewelry box and its contents missing. Both the back door into the home and an outer breezeway door had been kicked in, and a back window was broken, apparently in a first, failed attempt to get in.

Police found two sets of footprints in the snow, leading from the alley to the back breezeway.

A neighbor told officers that some time between 1 and 2 p.m. she heard a loud banging noise from outside and looked out but didn’t see anything and didn’t report it.