Angel Rodriguez, 47, was charged with third-degree burglary, second-degree criminal mischief and sixth-degree larceny. He was held on $20,000 bond and will appear in court May 13.
The arrest stems from an incident at Piazza Pizza last Oct. 17. Police said Rodriguez broke in through the front door and stole money from a lockbox kept on a shelf. The owner told police that the box contained between $200 and $500.
The owner was notified by the alarm company and responded to the scene, where he found the glass on the front door smashed and the back door open, police said. The owner told police that an ATM had also been dragged from the front of the restaurant to the back door, as if Rodriguez had tried to steal the machine but then left it, according to police reports.
Officers investigated and were able to match DNA found on the lockbox to Rodriguez, police said. A warrant was issued for his arrest, and he was taken into custody while appearing in court Tuesday.
Rodriguez was arrested in March for a similar burglary to Village Bagels in Norwalk that occurred the night after the burglary at Piazza Pizza. In that incident, Rodriguez and another man kicked in the glass in the front door and tried to enter before employees chased them off with bagel-making tools, police said.
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