A man who broke into an empty "He made it a point of Bellefonte home decided to telling us, 'I drank these stay and have a good time. five bottles,' " said Over the course of three days, Bingnear, who ran the man's he drank three bottles of gin name through the DELjis and two bottles of whiskey. computer and found that Finch At one point, he hid in a had a warrant out for his closet when the home's owner arrest on suspicion of stopped by to check on things. burglarizing the same house But at the end of the three in April. days, with the booze gone, he Fingerprints found at the tried to get out but couldn't. scene of the April burglary So he called 911 for help, linked Finch to the crime, saying he was locked in. Not police said. A warrant was surprisingly, he was arrested issued for his arrest at that Wednesday ... accused of time, but because he was burglarizing the same house homeless, officers could not twice in 10 months. find him. John Finch, 44, will be Bingnear said officers had charged after he's released some trouble taking him into from a hospital where he is custody Wednesday because of being held until he is sober, his condition. said New Castle County Police "We were trying to put his Officer John Weglarz Sr. shoes on, but he said they Officer Michael Bingnear, a weren't his shoes," he said. four-year police veteran who According to court records, responded to the call, said Finch told officers he he's never had someone -- in delivered oil to the the middle of a burglary -- residence a few years ago and call and ask for help. In knew the residents were not Finch's case, he was too home, so he broke in and "he intoxicated to climb back out drank all the bottles of through the window, police alcohol he could find" in the said. house. Bingnear and Officer Lauren When detectives contacted the McCafferty got the call about 82-year-old homeowner, 2:30 p.m. Wednesday and drove Shirley Wilson, she told them to the Bellevue Manor she had not invited Finch community. Two emergency into her residence. medical technicians with Wilson, who runs Don Wilson's Brandywine Hundred Fire Used Auto Parts at 800 S. Company arrived about the Walnut St. in Wilmington, same time. said when reached by phone The two officers knocked on Thursdya that she had not the front door, but did not lived in the house since the get a response. Meanwhile, roof blew off. the EMTs walked to the back She said that in the April and found the top half of a burglary, her husband's three window open. rings and her ring were taken They heard Finch yelling, along with a gold horn her "Help ... get me out of here . husband had given her for .. I can't open the door," Christmas. Bingnear said. The doors had "I had liquor bottles up deadbolts, which Finch there, but they didn't have couldn't operate. any liquor in them," said "If the door is secured, we Wilson, speculating that the are not going to make an burglar had brought the stash intoxicated subject climb out with him. of there," Weglarz said. "The house is all messed up Bingnear said the officers from the first burglary," she told him to turn the knob and said. "I was up there open the door. yesterday or the day before "He said, 'I can't. It's and I thought there was locked,' " Bingnear said. "At something awry." that point, we were getting The suspect told officers he frustrated with him. He was had hidden in a closet when sitting on the couch as we the owner had visited the were telling him to unlock house, police said. the back door. It took us "In all my 12 years on the about 20 minutes to get in, force, it's not something with him repeating himself." that's a usual occurrence," Finally, the two EMTs forced Weglarz said about the rarity open the back door, and the of a suspect calling for help two officers checked the rest in the middle of a crime. "If of the house to make sure no it were, it would make our one else was there. job a lot easier." (2 of 2)
Tags: burglary, calls, crime, Delaware, Drunken, suspect
