A shoe box full of jewelry that had allegedly been taken from the home was later recovered, police said.
EASTHAMPTON – A man checking on his vacationing brother’s Plain Street home Tuesday night saw two strangers heading out the door, one carrying a shoe box that later proved to be filled with jewelry.
“They called the police right away,” said Sgt. Mark Popielarczyk said of the man and his wife who had just pulled up to the house in their car.
Although the suspects fled, one on foot and other in a car, police caught up to both a short time later and arrested both, Popielarczyk, a detective, said.
John Mercolino, 29, of Pine Grove Street and Robert Anthony Livingston, 36, of Kenyon Street, both from Springfield, were both charged with breaking and entering in the nighttime with intent to commit a felony and larceny over $250.
Police stopped Livingstone’s car at Hendrick and Holyoke streets and they found Mercolino on foot in the neighborhood. The shoe box full of jewelry recovered under bush in wooded area nearby, Popielarczyk said.