Troy man admits to burglary spree
ALBANY, N. Y .» A Troy man admitted last week to being responsible for a one- man Watervliet crime wave in June.
According to the Albany County District Attorney’ s Office ,, Marquis H. NeSmith, 29, pleaded guilty in Albany County Court to a single felony count of seconddegree attempted burglary under a pleadeal. The terms of that deal call for NeSmith to be sentenced Sept. 22 to asmuch as four years in prison, followed by five years of post- release supervision, and to pay $ 600 in restitution to his victims.
Police said NeSmith committed burglaries and damaged property while “walking from one end of the city to the other” between June 20 and 21. The spree began about 9 p.m ., police said, when a couple returned to their home in the Port Schuyler neighborhood to find their front door kicked in andaman later identified as NeSmith rummaging through their belongings.
NeSmith successfully fled with about $ 200 worth of jewelry and rare two- dollar bills, but a couple hours later, police said they received a report of an attempted burglary in the city’s north end inwhich someone tried to push in an air conditioner to gain entry to a ground floor apartment. The man fled emptyheaded after a resident of the apartment heard a noise, saw the man and yelled.
About an hour later, in the same area as the attempted break- in, police said, NeSmith tried to pry and then kick open the back door of an apartment while the couple inside was sleeping. Again, police said, NeSmith was able to flee, but not before one of the residents got a good look at him and gave a description to police.
NeSmith was taken into custody a short time later, police said, after he was seen walking down 19th Street just after using 29 two- dollar bills to pay for an order at a local diner. He was initially charged with two felony counts of criminal mischief, as well as single felony charges of second- degree burglary, third- degree grand larceny and fourth- degree criminal possession of stolen property and misdemeanor counts of attempted burglary and possession of burglar’s tools.