A Trumbull County man believed to be responsible for the April 27 break-in at Mulligan’s Pub in Troy Township is in custody.
Brandon M. Welz, 29, of West Farmington, was arrested Saturday in Warren Township for allegedly breaking into a storage building on West Market Street.
He pleaded not guilty Tuesday in Warren Municipal Court to misdemeanor criminal trespass and is being held at the Trumbull County Jail on $2,500 bond.
Welz is suspected of committing at least 16 breaking and entering offenses in a five county area.
In addition to the breaking and entering at Mulligan’s Pub, Welz also is believed to have robbed Bistro 608 at Grandview on Old State Road in Claridon Township, Geauga County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Scott Hildenbrand said Wednesday.
Hildenbrand said the sheriff’s office received a tip from the pub on U.S. Route 422 after the pub posted surveillance video on its Facebook page showing the suspect committing a break-in after hours in late April.
“We got a tip on it,” said Hildenbrand. “Our detectives developed enough probable cause to obtain a warrant to track Welz and we then started surveillance on him.”
The video depicts Welz, who is wearing a hoodie, doing a “belly crawl” to evade the alarm system. He makes his way to the cash register and steals cash, Hildenbrand said.
“That’s his MO (method of operation),” added chief deputy. “They have him on video in Ashtabula doing the same thing.”
While the detectives were following Welz last weekend, Hildenbrand said they caught him attempting to break into the West Market Street storage building. The Trumbull County Sheriff’s Office was notified and Welz was arrested on scene.
“Through interviews and a search of dumpsters around where he lives, they found some more evidence of these burglaries,” Hildenbrand said, adding detectives also spoke with Welz’s girlfriend.
“It appears that there are 16 burglaries solved with this arrest, in Ashtabula, Trumbull, Lake, Portage and Geauga counties,” he said.
Hildenbrand added many of the burglaries occurred over the weekend, when the businesses presumably had more money in their cash registers.
According to information provided to detectives, Welz has a $300 to $600 per day heroin habit.
Geauga County Prosecutor Jim Flaiz told the Geauga County Maple Leaf he would decide what charges to bring against Welz once his office receives the case from the sheriff’s office.
It is possible all of the cases could be consolidated and tried in another county; however, Flaiz said his policy is to prosecute crimes committed in Geauga County in Geauga courts.
