Was it love or just breaking and entering?
A Lynn arborist is accused of using his tree-top expertise in a sky-high break-in attempt in Saugus — but he insists it was really a labor of love.
Saugus police say Bryan Dentremont, 53, used the cherry picker on his tree truck to try to break in to a fourth-floor apartment in Saugus. Police arrested him after a sharp-eyed property maintenance worker spotted Dentremont and realized he was out of place.
“It’s kind of ingenious,” said baffled property manager Mike Procopio about the heavy equipment entrance. “A bunch of tenants were watching him and they thought he was working for us.”
Procopio said he has no idea what Dentremont’s intentions were, but he said the tenant, whom Procopio has since spoken with “was freaking out and said he has no authorization to be there.” Herald efforts to reach the tenant were unsuccessful.
Dentremont, who owns the Eastern Tree Service, says that he just wanted to surprise the woman he claims is his girlfriend by returning an Oriental rug that he had cleaned.
“It was not malicious or anything like that. I cleaned her Oriental carpet, and I tried to get in but the keys didn’t work, so I used the aerial lift to get in,” Dentremont told the Herald, claiming he has been dating the tenant.
Both Dentremont’s account and police reports agree the Lynn resident pulled around back of an apartment complex on Friday morning, fired up his cherry picker, hopped in the bucket and rode up to the fourth floor, where he tried to enter the apartment.
“The window was wide open. No screen, no nothing,” Dentremont said, adding he has unsuccessfully tried to contact the tenant by cellphone. “I wish there was a way to get in touch with her. She’s a lovely lady.”
Procopio said he just wants to ensure his tenants’ apartments are secure.
“We don’t know what the connection is here, but I know the tenant was very alarmed,” he said.
Once the maintenance worker saw Dentremont, he alerted Saugus police, whose headquarters are right across the street from the apartment.
“They came flying over,” Dentremont said of the police, adding in his own defense, “if you were committing a crime, would you do it right across the street from the police? I mean how bright would that be?”
But officers charged him with breaking and entering in the daytime, a felony charge, as well as using a motor vehicle in a felony and possession of burglarious tools. Dentremont, whose truck and the cherry picker were towed away, is due to be arraigned in Lynn District court this morning.