Man who posed as construction worker gets 7 years for home invasions

One of two men accused of breaking into homes posing as construction workers was sentenced Wednesday to serve over seven years in prison after admitting guilt.

James Thomas Long Jr., 30, of Detroit, received a sentence of 86 months to 15 years behind bars from Macomb County Circuit Judge Edward Servitto after entering guilty pleas to three counts of second-degree home invasions for incidents last July, according to court records. As part of a deal with Macomb prosecutors, a habitual notice, which would have increased the maximum penalty, was dismissed. Second-degree home invasion involves an unoccupied dwelling. Long also was ordered to pay $2,900 restitution in one of the incidents.

Long and co-defendant Antonio V. Barry Jr., 43, of Clinton Township were arrested for home burglaries near Mound and Toepfer roads on June 13 and in the same area July 20, and near 13 Mile and Schoenherr roads July 24, according to police. Dressed in work vests, they allegedly knocked on doors of homes and broke in if no one answered, police said.

Warren

police

developed the pair of suspects after viewing surveillance video from a similar incident in Dearborn and gathering other evidence, police said.

For the Dearborn incident, Long pleaded guilty to second-degree home invasion and was sentenced last December by Wayne County Circuit Judge Bridget Mary Hathaway to two years probation, with the first seven months in jail, court records say.

Meanwhile, Barry is charged with the three Warren home invasions and possession of a firearm and ammunition by a felon in connection with one of the incidents; he faces a June 11 jury-trial date in front of Servitto for the three incidents.

In a separate case, he is charged with second-degree home invasion and receiving and concealing stolen property valued between $1,000 and $20,000 for a June 28 incident in Clinton Township. He is scheduled for an April 17 pretrial and June 25 jury trial in front of Servitto.

He also pleaded guilty to the second-degree home invasion in Dearborn for which he received the same sentence Long did.

Barry also was on parole for a 2016 home invasion in Wayne County for which he was sentenced to 5-15 years and was released in January 2023, Michigan Department of Corrections records say.