A serial burglar and his accomplice in a July burglary have been linked to additional burglaries in Prince William County, police said.
William Russell Griffin, 25, and Alexandria Hope Bergman, 19, had been charged in connection with a July 26 burglary in the 13600 block of Heythorpe Court. On July 31, authorities placed additional charges on them for other incidents in the Heritage Hunt community, located in the Gainesville and Haymarket area.
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Griffin was convicted in 2011 for seven residential burglaries in the Montclair area of Prince William County, and he had also been linked to 11 other burglaries at the time. He was sentenced to five years in prison, but all of that was suspended except for jail time he had already served, police said.
His sentence appears to be consistent with Virginia guidelines, and police said the issue with the guideline will be addressed with the Virginia Criminal Sentencing Commission.
“The nighttime breaking and entering into occupied homes by a masked intruder is a troubling and inherently dangerous crime that should result in severe punishment and controls designed to protect the community,” Prince William County Police Chief Charlie T. Deane said in a news release. “That clearly did not occur in the 2011 cases in Montclair. As a result, within months [Griffin] continued the same crime pattern in the Gainesville area.”
On July 26, a married couple of retired law enforcement officers saw Griffin outside their home, wearing dark clothing and a mask. The couple saw Griffin enter a neighbor’s garage and tried to hold him until police showed up, but Griffin fought them off by kicking and striking them.
Before Griffin fled, one of the victims grabbed his wallet. Police identified the burglar as Griffin and learned that Bergman had helped with planning the burglary, and the two were arrested, police said. Griffin was charged with one count of burglary and two counts of assault and battery in connection with this incident, and Bergman was charged with one count of burglary.
Police have since linked Griffin and Bergman to three other burglaries in the Heritage Hunt community that occurred earlier this year.
On July 31, Griffin was charged with three additional counts of burglary, two counts of grand larceny and one count of petit larceny, police said. Bergman faces additional charges of two counts of burglary, one count of grand larceny, one count of petit larceny and one count of conspiracy to commit burglary.
