GREENWICH VILLAGE — A roof-hopping Grinch was busted on Christmas Eve with a garbage bag full of stolen loot, and police believe the suspected cat burglar may be responsible for a months-long string of break-ins in Greenwich Village, authorities said.
Reginald Qualls, 19, was arrested around 5:30 a.m. Dec. 24 after a resident of a building on East 12th Street near Avenue A in the East Village was awoken by footsteps and called 911, according to the criminal complaint.
Police arrived and found Qualls with a black garbage bag and duffel bag filled with three laptops, two fur coats, an iPod, two digital cameras and more, the complaint said.
Multiple residents told cops they spotted Qualls on fire escapes and rooftops of buildings on East 12th Street that night, the complaint added.
Police think he could have been forced into the East Village because the NYPD made it too hot to continue raiding Greenwich Village homes.
The accused cat burglar is being held on $50,000 bail or bond and faces felony burglary charges and misdemeanor charges for resisting arrest, court documents said.
Brandon del Pozo, commanding officer of Greenwich Village's 6th Precinct, said at the precinct's community council meeting Wednesday that Qualls is being eyed in connection with several similar burglaries.
Two men have robbed "about seven homes" since mid-September by entering through unlocked windows near fire escapes, del Pozo said at a Dec. 15 Community Board 2 meeting.
Investigations of those Greenwich Village burglaries are ongoing, but Qualls is the main suspect, del Pozo said Wednesday.
"We think this was our guy," he said. "We really pressed the locations hard where he was striking, and maybe he moved east into the 9th Precinct. … We haven't had a hit since, and we think we may have gotten him."
Qualls had also been arrested just 10 days before Christmas Eve.
About 10 p.m. on Dec. 14, he allegedly struck a 76-year-old man with a metal pole on East 14th Street, just south of Union Square Park, according to police and court records.
The alleged victim, from Staten Island, suffered a fractured rib and needed 12 stitches to his leg after being beaten by Qualls, 18-year-old India Lawrence, and two other people who were not arrested, police said.
Qualls faces charges for felony assault and misdemeanor criminal possession of a controlled substance because he was allegedly found with "a glass container with cocaine residue and two pills of … ecstasy," according to records of the incident.
He was held on $7,500 bail on Dec. 16 and released by a Manhattan Criminal Court judge on Dec. 20, according to court records.
Lawrence, Qualls' alleged accomplice in the beating, was released from police custody a day after the alleged attack and was also hit with charges for felony assault and misdemeanor possession of a controlled substance.
Legal Aid, which is representing Qualls over the Dec. 24 arrest, did not immediately respond to a request to speak with Qualls' lawyer. The Manhattan District Attorney's office did not have information for Lawrence's lawyer immediately available.
