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September 6, 2008

Cigarette butt brings new arrest for 2005 church burglary

By ANDREA VanVALKENBURG

PLATTSBURGH -- In the summer of 2005, Plattsburgh City Police investigated a string of burglaries.

One of them involved a local church, missing money and a crumpled cigarette butt found near the crime scene.

Police charged Steven Burleigh with the theft at the Church of the Nazarene, but the burglar never mentioned he had an accomplice.

That wasn't known until DNA testing at the State Police crime lab allegedly linked a second man to the Broad Street burglary and the recovered cigarette.

Late last week, William Reno, 21, of Plattsburgh was arrested for his alleged role in the June 2005 church break-in.

According to Plattsburgh City Court records, Reno was linked to the crime after DNA from the cigarette was allegedly matched to his DNA, which he had submitted after an unrelated burglary conviction in 2007 at the Salvation Army in Plattsburgh.

At the time, police believed Reno was the culprit behind several other area burglaries, including one at the Crete Brothers Memorial Gymnasium on the Old Base.

He served less than a year in prison for the Salvation Army break-in and was released on parole about three months ago.

After his release, Reno returned to the area and began moving on with his life.

That was until police tracked him down and charged him with third-degree burglary for the church break-in.

Burleigh, who had already pleaded guilty to the church theft and served time in prison, recently told police he took sole responsibility for the crime because he "didn't want to rat out" his former friend.

Burleigh, now 21, said he and Reno had been friends for a long time and spent the summer of 2005 breaking into several buildings, including the church and two Catholic schools.

Court records show that during a recent interview, Burleigh confirmed to police that Reno was with him during the church break-in.

Reno now sits behind bars at the Clinton County Jail, with no option of posting bail or bond, and will return to court next week to face the charge.

avanvalkenburg

@pressrepublican.com

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