Check Out Your Neighbor's Yard Sale

Yard sale a shock for woman

Neighbor was selling her stolen goods, police say

By Andrea F. Siegel Baltimore Sun reporter

August 12, 2009

A woman whose home was burglarized as she stayed with her daughter was shocked to spot her belongings offered at a neighbor's yard sale, Anne Arundel County police say.

The woman recognized an array of her items - including Christmas decorations, Beanie Babies, an Oriental rug and a dresser - being sold by a man who was wearing one of her T-shirts, charging documents say.

Police said they found $25,000 worth of her clothes, furnishings and other possessions - even a fur coat - on the property.

The victim, who has been living with her daughter for several months while her home is in foreclosure, discovered Thursday that her house had been burglarized. On Saturday, she and her daughter were on the way to the house in the 800 block of Reece Road in Severn to inventory the missing items before calling police.

When they spotted the yard sale nearby, they "were shocked to realize that every item" came from the victim's house, according to charging documents.

Stunned, the women stopped and told the seller he was peddling the woman's stolen goods. He admitted that the merchandise was hers, not his, and she called police, court papers say.

The officer who responded saw a front yard, and later a porch, with towels, kitchen knives, a ceiling fan, shelving, telephones, in-line skates, dishes, an exercise bike and more - all of which the woman said came from her home.

The seller told police that he bought the woman's belongings for $100 from a man who came by a few times, most recently about three weeks ago, in an aqua-colored pickup truck, according to charging documents.

The officer, however, suspected that the seller had looted what he thought was an abandoned home. Asked if he had more of the woman's belongings than what was offered for sale, he pointed to a blue tarp on the porch that covered more of her possessions, including heaters, silverware and the fur coat, police allege. Detectives searched the home and found more, police said.

The woman's belongings were returned to her.

Police charged David Anthony Perticone, 46, of the 800 block of Reece Road, with burglary and theft. He was out of jail in lieu of $80,000 bail, according to court records. Attempts to reach him Tuesday were unsuccessful.