THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, October 22, 1994 TAG: 9410220272
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON FRANK, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines
Police say that when the urge to steal overtook 38-year-old Mark A. Baker, he became desperate enough to use a ladder to strip old churches of their valuable copper downspouts.
It was a weird part of a three-month-long burglary spree that police say Baker started near the beginning of August and carried into October. Although the burglaries stopped when Baker was arrested and jailed on Sept. 27, he allegedly went back to work when a $7,500 bond was posted Oct. 4.
The unemployed Portsmouth man was arrested again on Tuesday after police linked him to a burglary on Wyoming Avenue.
``We think he probably did a bunch after he was released,'' said Detective Buddy Saunders of the Portsmouth Police Department. ``But this is the one we can prove.''
In all, police have tied Baker to burglaries at 15 locations in Portsmouth and one in Chesapeake. He also has been charged with two armed robberies. Police have already filed 19 felony charges against him, Saunders said. Baker is being held on $105,000 bail at the Portsmouth City Jail.
It is a far cry from the 166 burglaries committed by Cedric Irving two years ago, which Portsmouth police think is a municipal record. So proficient and clever was Irving, Saunders said, that he was asked and agreed to make a videotape to help police spot and arrest burglars.
Although police say Baker's skills were less developed, they still think he was a significant player in the 200 or so burglaries that are committed each month in the city.
Baker usually used an accomplice, Saunders said, and chose his sites randomly, according to one of Baker's accomplices. The detective declined to identify the accomplice.
Baker was not choosy about what he stole, said Saunders. The detective said Baker sometimes spotted lawn mowers left unattended by homeowners who were taking a break inside the house.
``When the person came back outside, his lawn mower would be gone,'' Saunders said.
In addition to lawn mowers and copper gutters, Baker stole jewelry, VCRs, fax machines, printers and window air-conditioning units, Saunders said, and fenced the stolen merchandise at pawn shops and flea markets from Suffolk to Virginia Beach.
Saunders said that Baker, of Oregon Avenue, would approach a residence and ring the doorbell to see if anyone was home. If not, Baker would consider the residence a potential burglary site and search for an entry point, usually a window or door. Baker also stole from many detached garages and sheds, Saunders said.
He said Baker hit locations throughout the city - in Churchland, off Hodges Ferry Road and downtown. Baker has told police that he has a drug problem, Saunders said, and police speculate that an addiction to cocaine and heroin may be what drove Baker to go on the burglary spree.
Baker stripped off the copper gutters from at least three churches, Saunders said, and did the same thing to several old buildings. The copper, Saunders said, would be sold by Baker as scrap. The churches were not identified.
``He was stealing these gutters quite regularly,'' Saunders said. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Baker
KEYWORDS: ROBBERY by CNB