Crime & Safety

Mill Plain Road Home Allegedly Burglarized on Friday; Boyfriend-Girlfriend Team Arrested

New Haven couple caught in the act of burglary last week.

Branford Police report that one home on Mill Plain Road was burglarized on Friday around 11 a.m.

Branford Police Detective Lieutenant William Carroll, who commands the department’s Detective Division, said that detectives William DeGoursey and Daniel Travisano were completing work in the area of Mill Plain and Hickory Hill roads on Friday when they noticed a suspicious vehicle operating in the area. Carroll said the vehicle passed the detectives and the female operator seemed very nervous, and appeared to be looking into the yards of homes that she was driving by. As detectives stopped the car to investigate, a burglar alarm was reported at a nearby home where the detectives first saw the vehicle.

Patrol units, who were in the area, checked the home and determined a burglary had occurred and also located a jewelry box, just outside of the front door, partially hidden in shrubbery. Officers, along with the department’s K-9, checked the heavily wooded neighborhood for the burglary suspect, however were unable to make an apprehension.

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Based on information obtained from the operator of the car, Alora Baldino, 20, of 106 Hillside Ave. New Haven, detectives determined that her boyfriend, Joseph Rao, 51, of the same address, had been dropped off by her to commit a burglary from a home in the area.

Police were able to locate and take Rao into custody later in the day at the couple’s Hillside Avenue residence. While at Rao’s home, police also recovered a stolen shotgun taken during a burglary in another community.

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Chief Kevin Halloran said he was proud of the swift work by his detectives and officers that lead to the apprehension of the burglary suspects. “Sometimes things fall into place nicely for the officers which allow them to rapidly solve a difficult crime.” Halloran said. “Having seasoned detectives in the area certainly aided in this successful investigation.”

Baldino was charged with third-degree conspiracy to commit burglary, misuse of markers, operating without insurance, operating unregistered motor vehicle and failure to have tail lamp. She was released on a $10,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in New Haven Court on November 1.

Rao was charged with third-degree conspiracy to commit burglary, criminal possession of a firearm and fourth-degree larceny.He was held on a $100,000 bond and was arraigned in New Haven Court this morning.

Parts of this story were compiled from a Branford Police Department Press Release.


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