The Calvert County Grand Jury handed down a five-count indictment against an Anne Arundel County man charged with breaking into an Owings residence, stealing valuables and damaging a vehicle outside the home late last year.
According to documents on file at Calvert County Circuit Court, the suspect, Edmond Jarrod Riggs, 29 of Annapolis, was indicted for one count each of: first-degree burglary, theft over $500, malicious destruction of property over $500, malicious destruction of property less than $500 and theft under $100.
Riggs was initially charged with the burglary April 15. He was an inmate at a Baltimore jail at the time he was formally charged with the crime.
According to charging documents, on Nov. 7 at 4:36 p.m., troopers from the Maryland State Police were dispatched to a residence on Cornwall Road for a report of a burglary. A man living at the house told officers that his girlfriend’s daughter returned to the residence from school at approximately 3:35 p.m. “and observed the rear entry door window was broken out,” Tfc. Gary Mounts stated in the documents. The girl also reported that $35 was missing from her bedroom.
“Further investigation revealed that the rear door had the window smashed out of it allowing the suspect to gain entry into the residence,” Mounts stated. The trooper indicated in the court documents that the perpetrator had flipped over beds, emptied storage bins and dressers, and searched the refrigerator in the kitchen. A 1999 Lincoln was found to have been vandalized. An estimated $750 damage was done to the vehicle.
Ten days later, Mounts received a call from another of the home’s occupants who reported more items had been stolen during the break-in, according to court documents. The items were $1,200 in cash and a portable DVD player.
The resident who had originally contacted police about the burglary informed Mounts that Riggs’ uncle told him that he (Edmond Riggs) was the one who broke into the residence.
On Nov. 19 a fingerprint hit taken at the burglary scene from a fire extinguisher was found to match Riggs’prints. The fire extinguisher, stated Mounts, “was found on the rear steps of the residence when it was broken into.”
Although Riggs’ grandmother owns the house, the resident told Mounts “that in the year he has lived there Riggs has never been there.” Mounts added that the victim, “informed me that he did not give Riggs permission to be inside the house nor was he ever invited to the residence.”
If convicted on all charges, Riggs faces a maximum of just under 39 years in jail.
