Scranton police on Tuesday arrested two men who used Superstorm Sandy as a diversion for their seven-hour burglary spree on Viewmont Drive late Monday into Tuesday morning.
By the time they were caught, they had stolen tens of thousands of dollars in merchandise - from pens to computers to camera gear.
"They used the storm to their advantage knowing that police would be tied up more and maybe the alarms would be attributed to the storm," acting Scranton Police Chief Carl Graziano said.
The spree began at about 4 a.m. Tuesday when city police officers Dan Schaufler and Nicholas Hurchik responded to Best Buy, 959 Viewmont Drive, for a burglary alarm.
The officers found Gilbert Ortiz, 44, of the Bronx, N.Y., crouched beneath a freight trailer at a loading dock in the rear of the building and ordered him to the ground.
At the time of Mr. Ortiz's arrest, the officers saw another man dressed in black and wearing a mask run into a wooded area behind the store toward Interstate 81.
As the investigation continued, city police Detective Jeff Gilroy and acting Detective Mike Mayer secured a search warrant for 1418 N. Sumner Ave., where Mr. Ortiz had been staying with three friends, including Gregory Mitchell, 32.
Inside, investigators found Mr. Mitchell along with the loot from a burglary spree that police believe began at Staples, 951 Viewmont Drive, at about 9 p.m. Monday.
There, as Sandy settled in over the Scranton area with high winds and rain, Mr. Ortiz and Mr. Mitchell made entry to the building, tripping a burglary alarm, and waited.
"They told us that they waited to see if there would be a response," Chief Graziano said.
The police didn't show up, but not because of Sandy, he said. The company that manages the alarm system at Staples simply didn't report the alarm, assuming the storm had tripped it.
So, Mr. Ortiz and Mr. Mitchell walked in and out of the store, which had recently received a new shipment of computers equipped with the new Windows 8 software.
By the time they left the store, the two men had filled their van with about $50,000 worth of everything from pens to computers to GPS units.
During the search of 1418 N. Sumner Ave., one of the residents, Stephanie Johnson, 22, was also arrested as an accomplice, police said. Another woman residing in the home, who police did not identify yet, also will face charges. Investigators also seized computers from the home that were not stolen to look into the possibility that they had sold stolen merchandise for sale on the internet, police said.
Mr. Ortiz and Mr. Mitchell were arraigned on burglary and related charges. They were sent to the Lackawanna County Prison in lieu of $100,000 bail and $55,000 bail, respectively.
Investigators had not yet established on Wednesday an exact list of the stores the two men burglarized over the course of the night, but the men did admit to breaking into a Walmart. It also was not clear which Walmart - either the Taylor or Dickson City locations - they burglarized.
Detectives Capt. Al Leoncini said investigators were aware of a theft of several car batteries from the Walmart in Taylor in the same time frame but had not yet recovered any batteries that would link Mr. Ortiz and Mr. Mitchell to that crime.
In addition to merchandise from Staples and what appeared to be merchandise from Walmart, investigators also found clothing and various car parts inside the North Sumner Avenue home. Among the stolen car parts were various headlights, suspension parts, several sets of Honda wheels and tires and a new set of Chevrolet Corvette wheels and tires. Capt. Leoncini asked that any Honda or Chevrolet dealerships that have suffered thefts contact police to attempt to verify if the recovered items belong to them.
Brian Walsh, general manager and partner at Matt Burne Honda, looked over the parts on Wednesday and estimated the Honda wheels are worth $20,000.
He was not certain if the wheels belonged to his dealership, which had six full sets stolen off cars in their auxiliary lots in August.
"They jack the car up, take the wheels, take the jack out and the car's laying flat on the ground," he said.
Anyone attempting to claim the wheels can contact the Scranton Police Department at 348-4139.
Chief Graziano said the investigation "is in its infancy" and detectives will be looking back to see if the group is responsible for any past thefts.
"With the criminal element it's usually not their first rodeo," he said.
Contact the writer: domalley@timesshamrock.com, @domalleytt on Twitter