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02-03-2005, 07:32 PM
02/02/2005
Suspect in numerous break-ins allowed to remain free
By Jesse J. Smith , Freeman staff
KINGSTON - A suspect in a string of car break-ins was back on the street Tuesday just hours after police said he confessed to several thefts.
Alan L. DePace, 29, whose arrest record dates back at least 12 years, was released on his own recognizance Monday in Kingston City Court after admitting to city police that he broke into a car on Millers Lane. Later the same day, he was charged with felony grand larceny for three break-ins he confessed to at the Sky Top apartments in the town of Ulster but was released with an appearance ticket and told to appear in Town Court on Feb. 9.
DePace's recent troubles began Sunday night, when was arrested on Wilbur Avenue in Kingston after he was seen siphoning gas from a parked car, city police said. Detective Lt. Tim Matthews said police had been tailing DePace because he was a suspect in more than 30 vehicle break-ins - all in January - since being freed on $5,000 bail in October after being arrested for a previous string of car burglaries.
When DePace was pulled over for the Wilbur Avenue incident, he had a suspended driver's license and possessed what appeared to be stolen car stereo equipment, as well as an illegal gravity knife, police said. At city police headquarters, he admitted to the Millers Lane and Sky Top break-ins, all of which took place Saturday night, police said.
DePace, of 11 Downs St., Kingston, was charged with felony criminal mischief for the Millers Lane break-in, felony weapons possession for having the knife, misdemeanor petit larceny and several vehicle and traffic violations. On Monday, he appeared in City Court before Esopus Town Justice Robert C. Grieco, who was filling in on the Kingston bench, and, despite a request from the Ulster County District Attorney's Office that DePace be held on $5,000 bail, he was released on his own recognizance.
Grieco did not return a reporter's call on Tuesday, and Ulster County District Attorney Donald A. Williams declined to discuss the bail decision.
Later Monday, Kingston police took DePace into custody at his home and held him until a detective from the Ulster County Sheriffs Office arrived to charge him for the Sky Top burglaries. But DePace walked free again, this time with the appearance ticket for felony grand larceny and felony criminal mischief.
Kingston Police Chief Gerald Keller said he was disappointed that DePace was released and concerned that he would continue breaking into cars.
"Maybe we've hassled him enough at this point that he'll slow down," Keller said. "But I don't think so."
DePace's arrest record stretches back to at least 1993, when he was charged with burglary and conspiracy for allegedly stealing a safe from a Saugerties home, and includes 11 arrests for crimes ranging from possession of imitation cocaine to striking a man in the head with a brick.
Among those arrest: Christmastime 2003, for allegedly trying to steal a car belonging to a state trooper in Rhinebeck; and Christmas season in 2002, when police said they caught DePace and two cohorts in a vehicle loaded with holiday presents allegedly stolen from cars at a Connelly apartment complex.
İDaily Freeman 2005
Suspect in numerous break-ins allowed to remain free
By Jesse J. Smith , Freeman staff
KINGSTON - A suspect in a string of car break-ins was back on the street Tuesday just hours after police said he confessed to several thefts.
Alan L. DePace, 29, whose arrest record dates back at least 12 years, was released on his own recognizance Monday in Kingston City Court after admitting to city police that he broke into a car on Millers Lane. Later the same day, he was charged with felony grand larceny for three break-ins he confessed to at the Sky Top apartments in the town of Ulster but was released with an appearance ticket and told to appear in Town Court on Feb. 9.
DePace's recent troubles began Sunday night, when was arrested on Wilbur Avenue in Kingston after he was seen siphoning gas from a parked car, city police said. Detective Lt. Tim Matthews said police had been tailing DePace because he was a suspect in more than 30 vehicle break-ins - all in January - since being freed on $5,000 bail in October after being arrested for a previous string of car burglaries.
When DePace was pulled over for the Wilbur Avenue incident, he had a suspended driver's license and possessed what appeared to be stolen car stereo equipment, as well as an illegal gravity knife, police said. At city police headquarters, he admitted to the Millers Lane and Sky Top break-ins, all of which took place Saturday night, police said.
DePace, of 11 Downs St., Kingston, was charged with felony criminal mischief for the Millers Lane break-in, felony weapons possession for having the knife, misdemeanor petit larceny and several vehicle and traffic violations. On Monday, he appeared in City Court before Esopus Town Justice Robert C. Grieco, who was filling in on the Kingston bench, and, despite a request from the Ulster County District Attorney's Office that DePace be held on $5,000 bail, he was released on his own recognizance.
Grieco did not return a reporter's call on Tuesday, and Ulster County District Attorney Donald A. Williams declined to discuss the bail decision.
Later Monday, Kingston police took DePace into custody at his home and held him until a detective from the Ulster County Sheriffs Office arrived to charge him for the Sky Top burglaries. But DePace walked free again, this time with the appearance ticket for felony grand larceny and felony criminal mischief.
Kingston Police Chief Gerald Keller said he was disappointed that DePace was released and concerned that he would continue breaking into cars.
"Maybe we've hassled him enough at this point that he'll slow down," Keller said. "But I don't think so."
DePace's arrest record stretches back to at least 1993, when he was charged with burglary and conspiracy for allegedly stealing a safe from a Saugerties home, and includes 11 arrests for crimes ranging from possession of imitation cocaine to striking a man in the head with a brick.
Among those arrest: Christmastime 2003, for allegedly trying to steal a car belonging to a state trooper in Rhinebeck; and Christmas season in 2002, when police said they caught DePace and two cohorts in a vehicle loaded with holiday presents allegedly stolen from cars at a Connelly apartment complex.
İDaily Freeman 2005