BERLIN — A Berlin man was arrested on burglary and other charges this week after detectives were able to connect him to alleged break-ins at auto repair shops in the area.
Around 3 p.m. Sept. 26, Worcester County Sheriff’s deputies responded to Wally’s Garage on Seahawk Road in Berlin for a reported burglary and Worcester County Bureau of Investigation (WCBI) detectives responded to assist. Detectives met with the garage owner, who advised his business had been burglarized. The owner told police he arrived and observed a portion of the rear garage door had been broken off and that tools and other miscellaneous items on the front counter had been ransacked.
WCBI detectives observed the garage door had been tampered with including damage from a screwdriver or crow bar, which is how the suspect allegedly entered the building. The owner told police it appeared nothing had been stolen and that the business did not keep a cash drawer on the counter overnight.
WCBI detectives obtained video surveillance footage from the garage owner’s son reportedly showing a suspect entering the property shortly after 3 a.m. The suspect, wearing a gray sweatshirt, gray sweatpants and gray shoes with bright white laces walked onto the property and the surveillance video captured a clear image of the suspect’s face.
According to police reports, the video surveillance allegedly shows the suspect walk toward the garage and shine a flashlight into the screened porch area of the business. The suspect entered the screened porch area and reached up and unscrewed an overhead lightbulb, according to police reports. The suspect then entered the garage using a crowbar and exited about 10 minutes later at 3:40 a.m.
Around 4:20 a.m. on Sept. 26, Maryland State Police troopers responded to an alarm activation at Racetrack Auto on Route 50. MSP troopers arrived on scene and located a suspect later identified as Chad Cirigliano, 40, of Berlin, who was wearing a gray sweatshirt, gray sweatpants and shoes identical to those worn by the suspect at the Wally’s Garage break-in about an hour earlier. MSP troopers arrested Cirigliano for the burglary at Racetrack Auto.
Meanwhile, WCBI detectives were familiar with Cirigliano and identified his from the surveillance video captured at Wally’s Garage. Detectives asked the Wally’s Garage owner and his son if they were familiar with Cirigliano. They each reported the suspect had come to the garage in mid-September and asked if the business sold soda.
Detectives pulled surveillance video from that date and observed Cirigliano allegedly pacing around the business as if he was casing it. In the Sept. 14 video, Cirigliano was allegedly wearing the same gray sweatshirt and sweatpants he was wearing at the time of the break-ins on Sept. 26.
Based on the evidence, detectives obtained warrants for Cirigliano for two counts of burglary and one count of malicious destruction of property and he was taken into custody last week. During a bail review hearing last Thursday, Cirigliano was ordered to be held without bond.
For Cirigliano, his arrest was the second since July for burglary and theft. He was arrested in July for allegedly breaking into a safe and taking money from his place of employment. His trial in that case was scheduled for last Thursday, ironically the day he was arrested for the Berlin garage break-ins, but was postponed and rescheduled for Nov. 20.
Around 6:30 p.m. on July 26, an Ocean City Police Department (OCPD) officer responded to a nightclub on 17th Street to investigate an alleged theft. The officer met with the club owner, who advised he suspected a member of his security staff of stealing money from a safe in the office on the first floor.
The business owner told police he noticed roughly $3,000 missing from the safe on Sunday, July 21. The owner told the investigating officer he suspected the money had been taken from the safe sometime late on Saturday, July 20 or early Sunday, July 21. The owner told police after he discovered the theft, he bought a security camera and installed it in the ceiling of the office where the safe is located.
The business owner told police he suspected the culprit would strike again and hoped to catch the suspect with the surveillance camera. The business owner told police he made copies of $900 in bills he put in the safe. The business owner made copies of $900 he put in the safe and waited for the suspect to strike again. Sure enough, the suspect, a nightclub staffer identified as Cirigliano was captured on surveillance video allegedly entering the office and manipulating the safe around 6:55 p.m. on July 26.
