INFORMATIONAL RELEASE
Burglar Busted
09-12-18
On July 2, 2018, the Copper Tree Wellness Studio, located at 1364 E. Sumner St, and the Pack & Ship Store, located at 1366 E. Sumner St, were burglarized during the night. Both stores (which share the same building but have different entrances) were forcibly entered after a large rock was thrown through their glass entrance doors.
During the investigation of the crime scene, Hartford Police Evidence Technicians recovered a variety of latent evidence, including fingerprints. Investigators located the latent prints on one of the targeted cash registers and submitted the prints to the Wisconsin State Crime Lab in Milwaukee on July 11, 2018, for analysis.
On September 7, 2018, we were notified that the fingerprints had been positively identified as belonging to a 33-year-old Hartford man that lived in the immediate area of these incidents. Further investigation revealed that the suspect had a previous criminal record, including convictions for multiple burglaries. Additionally, investigators learned that the suspect had never been an employee of either store and would never have had authorized access to the cash register where the fingerprints were recovered.
On September 12, 2018, the suspect was questioned by a Hartford Detective regarding this incident. The man denied any involvement in these incidents and offered no explanation for the evidence that had been recovered in this investigation linking him to these offenses.
Based on the findings of this investigation, the man was arrested and taken to the Washington County Jail on two felony counts of burglary.
All suspects enjoy the presumption of innocence, and all charges must be proved in a court of law.