Cops: Alleged Mattituck robber was caught with drugs days before
Two Riverhead men who police say were caught with a loaded gun after one of the pair stole a bag of Snickers candy from a Mattituck home last week remain held in Suffolk County jail, a Southold town court clerk said.
And police reports show Kenneth Belcher — the 46-year-old man accused of the alleged theft — had been arrested for carrying drugs in Riverhead days before.
He now faces charges of felony burglary, two counts of criminal possession of a weapon and criminal possession of stolen property related to the Mattituck incidents, police said. He was held without bail, the court employee said.
His 88-year-old alleged accomplice, Willie James Blackmon, is facing one count of felony criminal possession of a weapon. He remains held on $10,000 cash bail or $50,000 bond.
Three days before he was apprehended by Southold police, Mr. Belcher had been arrested in Riverhead for heroin possession.
Mr. Belcher was arrested last Tuesday on Raynor Avenue when police allegedly caught him with a glass pipe and an envelope “containing a quantity of a powdery substance” later identified as heroin, according to a police report.
He was charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance and taken into custody. He was later released on $200 bail with a ticket to appear in court.
On Friday, a resident of Legion Avenue in Mattituck called 911 about 10 a.m., according to a police report, telling police that a man wearing a baseball cap and a hooded sweatshirt had knocked on her door moments before. The resident looked through the peephole but didn’t answer the door. The woman told police that the man was looking in her neighbor’s windows and “walking around the house looking in windows and trying to open the door.”
Cops searched the area, and learned that the man had gotten into one of the homes and was confronted by a woman, according to a police statement. The man — later identified by police as Mr. Belcher — asked the woman for money, but she refused.
After she told him she couldn’t help him, he took a bag of Snickers candy bars and left the house.
Police located Mr. Belcher in the passenger seat of a Cadillac sedan driven by 88-year-old Willie James Blackmon that was leaving the area on Main Road in Laurel. The pair were arrested after a traffic stop, and police found a loaded .32 caliber Smith and Wesson revolver inside the sedan, according to the report.
A Southold Town police report also revealed that arresting officers found Mr. Belcher had a woman’s stolen drivers license at the time of his arrest.
The pair were arraigned in Southold Town court and are due back in court Friday morning.
Mr. Belcher had also been arrested numerous times prior to Friday’s alleged incident on charges ranging from resisting arrest earlier this month to giving a false name to police to avoid getting arrested on an active warrant in 2011, according to previous News-Review articles.
