Crime & Safety

New Father Arrested for Break-In

After his girlfriend just had a baby, a Burlington resident was arrested for breaking into a car.

Michael Sullivan’s girlfriend had a baby on Tuesday morning at . As the Burlington resident walked outside he decided to break into a car.

A witness saw him and the new father was arrested for breaking and entering into a motor vehicle and for larceny of under $250.

Sullivan had parked his car on the top level of the hospital and as he was standing next to his vehicle, he noticed the car next to him had a pocketbook in the front seat.

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According to the police report, Sullivan took out his keys, pressed it in the top left corner of the passenger window, causing it to crack. He then pushed the window, shattering it into the car. Sullivan then reached into the vehicle, took out the purse and put it in the trunk of his car.

While looking for parking, a Dracut resident observed the entire incident and told hospital security.

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“I wasn’t thinking, I just saw [the purse] and took it out of desperation,” Sullivan told police. “I needed to take it to get money for my new baby.”

According to Sergeant Thomas Groux, of the it’s unusual for the police to catch someone stealing property.

“Normally we don’t catch the person,” Groux said. “Normally we just have to respond and take a report, but this is rare to make an arrest for larceny.”

Winchester has gone through stretches where a number of occur over short time span, but Groux said that Sullivan was probably not responsible for any recent past break-ins in town.

“We’ll get a rash of break-ins, but it’s not likely that he was involved in any other break-ins in town,” Groux said. “This seems like something he did many times in his life before, but was just never caught. This time, with it being a daytime break and a witness, we were able to get him.”

Sullivan, who’s been out on probation for the last two years could face up to 2 ½ years in jail.


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