Document text
Police leave camera behind to catch burglar Andrew Charles Pierce Saturday Oct 14, 2017 at 2:44 PM Oct 14, 2017 at 4:28 PM Local report A man suspected of letting a cable installer inside a Medford house as he was burglarizing it Thursday was nabbed Saturday when he apparently returned for the meth paraphernalia he left behind. Andrew Charles Pierce, 41, was arrested inside a vacant house in the first block of South Modoc Avenue, the same house where he allegedly let a Charter cable installer inside Thursday, according to police. On Thursday, a house near the 1200 block of East Main Street that had a security camera caught someone roaming around inside who was wearing a safety vest and a wig while carrying a sledge hammer and tool kit, a police Facebook post said. The surveillance system alerted the homeowners, who came home and confronted the intruder, who left behind his costume and other evidence as he fled. Medford police Cpl. Randy Jewell said the guy with the wig has not been caught, but some of the evidence left behind led police to the vacant house on Modoc. Over on Modoc, police discovered that someone had left behind meth paraphernalia, Jewell, so they mounted a surveillance camera of their own to see whether the person would return. At 2:30 a.m. Saturday, the camera caught Pierce inside the house, where police swooped in and arrested him. Jewell said the camera tactic is a common one for police. "We normally don't publicize how we capture them," Jewell said. "But we use cameras all the time." Pierce remained lodged in the Jackson County Jail Saturday without bail on charges of first-degree burglary and identity theft, third-degree theft and on an out-of-county warrant charging him with identity theft. In a third incident midday Thursday, another house on the 1200 block of East Main Street was burglarized, with a $5,000 Rolex watch reported stolen. Police do not know whether that burglar was the same one who wore the costume.