Alleged open house thief caught in East Longmeadow

EAST LONGMEADOW, Mass. (WWLP) - East Longmeadow police have arrested a man they say stole from an open house while posing as a real estate agent.

Sergeant Denis M. Sheehan told 22News that Nicholas Spencer, 24, of Springfield, may also be responsible for similar recent thefts in Springfield.

According to Sheehan, late Thursday morning, police received a call from a realtor who was doing a broker’s open house, about a man who came into the home, posing as an agent.

She told police the man had signed-in using the name “Alex” (a name she knew was used by the person believed to be behind other recent open house thefts), and that he spent an unusual amount of time in one of the house’s bedrooms. When “Alex” left, she noticed he did not park in front of the house, but walked through a neighbor’s yard to a car parked on a side street.

The realtor gave police the description of the vehicle, and officers stopped Spencer shortly after receiving the call. Sheehan says officers discovered Spencer was driving with a suspended license, and he was arrested on that charge.

On further investigation, Sheehan says police determined Spencer was indeed the person who was at the open house. He says the suspect confessed to taking jewelry from the home, and later admitted to similar thefts in Springfield.

Sheehan says police were able to recover jewelry stolen from the house, as well as some other jewelry that they are trying to match with a victim.

In addition to the charge of driving with a suspended license, Spencer faces a felony charge of larceny from a building. If the additional jewelry found is determined to have been stolen, he could face an additional charge of receiving stolen property.