They’re facing similar charges in other communities
Two Madison men have been charged in a rash of burglaries and vehicle thefts from seven homes in the Camelback Farms subdivision in Rochester last year.
The suspects, Cleaster Moon, 25, and Joshua Pitts, 18, have been dubbed “burglary kingpins” by Madison police for their suspected involvement in large-scale residential and vehicle thefts across a wide swath of the state from Dane County to Racine County.
Both have been charged in Racine County Circuit Court with four counts of burglary, four counts of theft of movable property, two counts of vehicle theft, three counts of credit card theft, three counts of fraudulent use of a credit card, and three counts of misappropriation of identity information to obtain money.
Both face similar charges in multiple jurisdictions, including Dane, Sauk and Waukesha counties. At least two other people are suspects in some of the burglaries and thefts, according to the Wisconsin State Journal.
The Racine County charges were first filed in May. Both men were scheduled to
make their initial appearances in Racine County Court on Tuesday, but neither showed up. Online court records indicated that Moon was in the Dane County Jail and Pitts was at large.
However, on Tuesday evening the Dane County Jail inmate roster showed Pitts was in custody and did not have a listing for Moon. Both were arrested by Madison police in October of last year, according to multiple reports.
The initial appearance for Moon was adjourned to July 30 and a warrant was issued for the arrest of Pitts.
The two are accused locally of entering seven homes in the Camelback Farms subdivision and stealing vehicles, purses, wallets, mobile phones, cash and other items in the early morning hours of Sept. 10.
According to the criminal complaints against both men, in several instances they entered unlocked cars parked in the driveways of homes and used garage door openers in the vehicles to gain access to the homes while the residents were sleeping.
In one instance the thieves found keys to a vehicle and the home in the center console of the vehicle.
Those facts prompted officials with the Racine County Sheriff’s Department to urge residents to lock their vehicles as well as the doors to their homes, especially the service door that provides access to the home from the garage.
Six of the seven targeted homes were in close proximity to the others on two streets – Royal Hill Road and Hunters Glenn Road – that form an oval, according to the criminal complaint.
One of the victims told police that “he was very frightened and that nobody other than his daughter should have access to the home. He was awakened by a car door closing outside in his driveway… He called 911 and thought someone was in his house,” the complaint states.
Another resident had a surveillance camera that captured two men entering his unlocked car and using the garage door opener to gain access to the home, according to the complaint.
In yet another instance, one of the victims told investigators the thieves used the garage door opener from an unlocked car to gain access to a car in the garage. The thieves stole five $100 bills that were kept in the vehicle’s center console along with three credit cards and a bag containing papers with personal information, including passwords and bank account information, the complaint alleges.
For additional court news see this week’s editions of the Burlington Standard Press, Waterford Post and Westine Report.
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