GLASTONBURY, CONNECTICUT: Patrick Hemingway, a 37-year-old former police officer from Connecticut, has been accused of being a "serial burglar," as he is believed to have committed at least 30 thefts in three different states, targeting restaurants and other businesses, and stealing from their cash registers and safes.
Hemingway joined the Glastonbury Police Department in 2019 and reportedly resigned from the Glastonbury Police Department on September 1 of this year. Prior to that, he served as an officer in New Britain, starting in 2009.
According to a recently unsealed warrant, he is suspected of targeting restaurants and businesses in Connecticut as well as Rhode Island and Massachusetts.
Some of the crimes that Hemingway has been accused of took place in Glastonbury between February and June while he was still working as a police officer, as per the New York Post.
Patrick Hemingway was nabbed due to his resemblance to a burglar in surveillance footage
Surveillance footage based on which the charges were brought shows a person resembling Patrick Hemingway wearing a mask, hoodie, and gloves.
The deftness in which the crime was committed suggested a person who has experience of working with law enforcement.
According to the police warrant, the suspected burglar is seen holding a flashlight "in a tactical manner," using an FBI technique, as well as holding "a coiled, corded object to his left ear" like the portable radios used in the Glastonbury Police Department.
The warrant further states that Hemingway left behind a bag with lock-picking tools at the police department when he resigned and apparently similar instruments have been used in some of the burglaries.
A Jeep, like the one that belongs to Hemingway's wife, was also spotted at multiple sites where the crimes took place.
Prior charges against Patrick Hemingway
Patrick Hemingway was charged with computer crimes, alleging misuse of a police database 80 times, including for inquiries about his and his wife’s vehicles, and making a false statement. He is expected to face more charges.
On September 22, Hemingway was arrested at a New Jersey airport as a fugitive from justice and is being currently held on a $1 million bond.
His lawyer, James E Sulick, stated in court, "I've seen murder cases where the bond is that high," according to Fox News.
