Resident Trooper to report on latest string of burglaries

By Lloyd Garrison

Greg Naylor, the town’s veteran Resident Trooper, will field questions on Wednesday, March 5 at Botelle School on the rash of drug-related break-ins that show no sign of letting up.

Residential homes on 272, Goshen Road East and Bald Mountain Road were the targets of three more burglaries last month. Losses ranged from two gold rings to two flat screen televisions. A fourth break-in, on Sandy Brook Road in Colebrook, resulted in the theft of cameras and electronic equipment worth an estimated $8,000. “They were quickly traded for cash on the streets of Waterbury,” says Naylor.

The prime suspect in the Colebrook case is described by Naylor as a serial burglar who allegedly injects cocaine and has been stealing to support his habit since he was 16.

The public meeting Wednesday will begin at 7:00 in the Botelle School cafeteria. It was arranged by Norfolk Now as a community service in cooperation with Botelle Superintendent George Counter.

Naylor, who has a State Police medal for his investigative skills, anticipates that some will question why so many burglaries go unsolved and that others may ask “why they never seem to see me much around town.”

Those who attend the meeting can count on hearing a litany of examples of how the criminal justice system is unable to keep up with the sudden influx of cheap heroin that is fueling much of what Naylor calls “an epidemic” in household thefts.

Most break-ins take place with no one at home. “But there is always that chance,” says Naylor, “that when the next burglar suddenly comes upon a homeowner, someone is going to get hurt.”

Naylor, who lives in Falls Village, has begun to put down roots in Norfolk. He recently bought a plot on Loon Meadow Road where he intends to re-erect a barn that he dismantled and trucked here from Pemaquid, ME.