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| 7/24/2010 4:46:00 PM | Email this article • Print this article | Waterford teen charged in Union grove burglary
Cigarettes stolen during smash and grab burglary
Mark Dudzik
EDITOR
A 17-year-old Waterford High School student was charged in Racine County Circuit Court Tuesday in connection with a burglary he allegedly committed back in May against a Union Grove business.
Brady W. Gibney was charged with one count of burglary to a building and one count of criminal damage to property.
Also charged in connection with the burglary were two West Allis men, including a 17-year-old man and his 18-year-old brother.
According to the criminal complaint filed in connection with the charges, a deputy from the Racine County Sheriff's Department was dispatched to the Dover Food Mart at 2010 N. Raynor Ave. in Union Grove on May 13 after a newspaper delivery person reported finding that the glass front door of the business had been broken out.
The owner of the business, Gurdev Singh, told the deputy that the only items found missing from the store following the break-in were several cartons of cigarettes.
Surveillance video turned over to the sheriff's department by the owner show a suspect jumping over the broken glass from the front door while carrying a bag that at least 20 cartons of cigarettes were packed into.
Swabs of blood were obtained from the department after being spotted on pieces of the broken glass.
The break in the case, according to the criminal complaint, came nearly two weeks after the burglary when a customer of the business told the owner that a Waterford High School student was involved in the crime.
After Gibney's name was presented as the suspect in the case, the sheriff's department contacted his father and he was brought in for questioning.
Upon being contacted by the deputy, Gibney allegedly confessed to having stole cartons of cigarettes from a gas station in Waterford two weeks earlier, at which time the deputy told him it was not that crime he wanted to speak to him about but rather the break-in that occurred in Union Grove.
While Gibney denied his involvement in the crime upon questioning, an investigator with the sheriff's department allegedly noticed several cuts on both of the man's arms and mentioned that DNA evidence collected from the blood at the scene could be used to link him to the crime.
It was at that point, according to the complaint, that Gibney admitted to his involvement in the crime, which he allegedly said was committed during the week when he was suspended from Waterford High School.
Stating that he had been drinking prior to participating in the burglary, Gibney allegedly told the investigator that he and the other two men targeted the Dover Food Market simply because it was "out in the middle of nowhere."
Gibney allegedly said he had brought a pillowcase in which to haul away the cartons of cigarettes and had used a large rock he found along the side of the road to smash out the window. It took six or seven times of him throwing the rock against the glass, Gibney told the investigator, before it shattered.
Gibney allegedly confessed to having taken a total of 14 cartons of cigarettes, which he reportedly split with the other suspects charged in the crime.
If convicted on both counts, Gibney faces more than 13 years in jail.
A preliminary hearing into the matter has been scheduled for Aug. 5.
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