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Christopher Malizia, 48, was charged with four counts of third-degree burglary, one count of fourth-degree larceny and seven counts of credit card theft. He was held on $50,000 bond and will appear in court March 19.
Police were called to a home on Hoyt Street on Dec. 26 on a report of a burglary. The resident, who had been away for a few days, said that when he came home he discovered his basement window had been broken, police said.
The resident didn't think that it was a break-in until he discovered suspicious activity on his credit card statement, and noticed that several credit cards and checkbooks, as well as a small document safe, had been stolen from his house, police said.
One of the credit cards was used to make two $400 purchases at a CVS in Norwalk; a $400 and $204.95 purchase at a CVS in Stamford; a $5.49 purchase at Food Bag in Stamford; and a $9 purchase at a Shell Oil in Stamford. Another credit card was used to make a $200 purchase at the CVS in Norwalk.
The resident told police that he had previously discovered broken windows in his home. Six months earlier, he had found a basement window broken. He didn't report the incident because he thought local children broke it, and he didn't notice anything missing. Another had been a year earlier, when a back door window was broken. He also did not report that, because he didn't find anything missing.
When canvassing the neighborhood, officers spoke to Malizia, a neighbor. He reported that his house had also been broken into, but he told the officers that he didn't think anything was taken and he didn't want to report the incident because he didn't feel well. When detectives returned to follow up, Malizia repeated that he didn't want to report it, according to police reports.
The detectives then reviewed surveillance footage of one of the CVS stores, and noticed that the suspect bore a striking resemblance to Malizia, police said. They obtained a search warrant for his home, where police said they recovered evidence linking him to the burglary.
Officers also recovered a watch taken in one of the previous burglaries of his neighbor's house, according to police reports.
Police said that Malizia admitted to breaking into his neighbor's house three times and using the credit cards. He also admitted to taking part in a burglary last year on Lynn Court, where thousands of dollars worth of jewelry was taken, including a $10,000 ring. A warrant was issued for his arrest and he turned himself in Monday.
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