Alleged burglary indicted on charges related to dozens of home break-ins in Mercer County
TRENTON >> A serial burglar was indicted this week on charges related to break-ins at five homes in West Windsor and Plainsboro, authorities said.
Billy Woodard, 54, was already indicted on 55 counts in September charging him with a burglary spree spanning West Windsor to Hopewell Township.
He was charged with 19 burglaries in West Windsor, four in Robbinsville, six in Princeton, four in Lawrence and two in Hopewell, the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement.
Assistant prosecutor Kathleen Petrucci presented both cases to the grand jury.
Mercer County Prosecutor Angelo Onofri said that between June 2018 and May 2019 those municipalities experienced a “rash of residential burglaries,” leading to an investigation by the West Windsor Police Department, led by detectives Eric Woodrow and Jason Jones, that identified Woodard as the “lone actor” in more than 20 burglaries during that time.
“In almost every single case, the burglaries took place while the residents were at home and asleep,” Onofri said.
Woodard was apprehended during a home break-in Lower Makefield Township, Pennsylvania, on May 30, 2019. He is locked up at the Bucks County jail on those charges.
West Windsor chief Robert Garofalo said the investigation is still active.
“The Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office and the WWPD ask residents to continue your vigilance and be observant and considerate to your neighbors. If you feel something is abnormal in your community, please don’t hesitate to contact your local police department immediately,” he said.
Court records show Woodard is a previously convicted burglary. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2010, according to court records.