OHIO COMPUTERS STOLEN Westlake officer spots, catches computer theft suspects - West Shore Sun:

Westlake officer spots, catches computer theft suspects
Posted by Joe Noga August 12, 2009 14:17PM

WESTLAKE Two Cleveland men face felony burglary charges in connection with a rash of office laptop computer thefts after a quick-thinking police patrolman spotted them on a busy city street.

The off-duty officer apprehended both suspects just before they entered a Center Ridge Road medical building intent on stealing more computer equipment to sell for drug money.

Investigators had just finished reviewing surveillance photos of the suspects at about 4:30 p.m. on Aug. 5 at police headquarters prior to the end of the afternoon shift.

Patrolman James Scullin left for the day and was driving home down Dover Center Road when he stopped to let a car turn left out of a gas station.

That's when Scullin spotted the men whose photos he had seen moments earlier.

The suspects, Leroy Glass, age 52, and Larry Cannon, 54, were wanted in connection with a string of thefts from two Westlake office complexes.

Surveillance cameras had captured images of Glass and Cannon stealing laptop computers on Aug. 4 from the Gemini Towers office buildings on Crocker Road.

The two men also fit the description of individuals wanted in connection with thefts from the King James office complex a week earlier.

Police spokesman Lt. Ray Arcuri said Scullin was in the right place at the right time and spotted the suspects while their photos were still fresh in his mind.

"It was great Johnny-on-the-spot stuff," Arcuri said.

Scullin followed the suspects to a parking lot at the corner of Columbia and Center Ridge roads. Glass and Cannon then proceeded to a nearby medical office building.

Before the suspects could enter the building, Scullin approached them, identified himself as a police officer and placed them under arrest without incident.

"He didn't want to take a chance of even letting them go in," Arcuri said.

Glass and Cannon could face multiple felony burglary charges. Arcuri said as many as six other law enforcement agencies have contacted them regarding the arrest, and more charges could follow for both suspects.

He said both men were on parole when they were arrested.

"We're sure charges are going to mount," he said.

According to Arcuri, one of the men cooperated with investigators and admitted that the duo was stealing laptop computers and selling them for whatever money they could get, which they used to buy heroin.