Dec 19, 2006 9:16 pm US/Eastern
Notorious 'Dinnertime Bandit' Captured In Belgium
Cat Burglar Stole Millions From Upscale Communities As Residents Ate Dinner
by Pablo Guzmán
GREENWICH, CT. (CBS/AP) ―
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"Dinnertime Bandit" Alan Golder had a passion for stealing jewelry from affluent citizens while they ate dinner.
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Alan Golder was captured in Belgium after being on the run for eight years.
CBS
A notorious cat burglar who stole millions from the rich in the northern suburbs and eluded police for years has finally been tracked down and captured and in quite the elusive spot. Greenwich police say the so-called "Dinnertime Bandit" was caught in Belgium.
Alan Golder had a strong interest in upscale communities, but it wasn't for the real estate. Rather, Golder took a liking to jewelry belonging to affluent citizens, and he especially enjoyed taking them while the homeowners were downstairs eating dinner.
"Our understanding of Mr. Golder is he does get a thrill out of being in the house while others are there," Greenwich Police Chief James Walters said.
But getting inside the houses wasn't as easy as just climbing through a ground window. Golder used tremendous athleticism to walk across the roofs of the houses, angled at steep inclines, like a tightrope artist before dropping to a second floor master bedroom.
Why did he choose to enter through the upstairs windows? A woman who lived next door to a Scarsdale home he allegedly robbed in 1997 told CBS 2 that Golder knew something the alarm companies often told customers.
"I was putting in a new alarm system and they said you don't have to do the second floor because they said the chances of them coming in are remote," the witness said.
When stories about Golder, now 51, began spreading, police say he fled from his apartment in an area whitestone building eight years ago, leaving behind a screenplay about his life as a thief that he was beginning to circulate in studios. He's been on the run until last Thursday, when he was nabbed in Belgium -- apparently up to the same old tricks.
"The coverage for what occurred here obviously doesn't get that amount of coverage in Europe, and obviously it's a much easier place to hide once he's over there," Walters said.
Golder was identified by police in Belgium through fingerprinting.
Greenwich police obtained a warrant in 1998 charging Golder in 16 burglaries, making off with nearly $1 million in stolen items from September 1996 to October 1997, as well as in seven attempted break-ins.
Authorities also suspect Golder in 50 burglaries in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, totaling nearly $5 million in stolen jewelry.
Segments on Golder have been broadcast repeatedly on television's "America's Most Wanted" and "Unsolved Mysteries" since his disappearance, generating reported sightings in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta and in St. Augustine, Fla.
Police say that in one of the burglaries before he became a fugitive, Golder was surprised by a little girl inside the house. This prototypical cat burglar then ran head-first through a second-floor window and hit the ground running. One woman told police that Golder tied her up with her husband's neckties. When she cried that she needed medication, he came back as he was leaving and gave her pills from the medicine cabinet.
Greenwich police will work with the state attorney's office in Stamford and the U.S. Department of Justice to extradite Golder, Walters said.
(© 2006 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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