By Jim Clark

A police officer was dispatched to a Pearl St. home last week on a reported past breaking and entering.

Upon arrival, the officer reportedly noticed two men sitting on the steps of the residence in question. They were subsequently asked to identify themselves.

One of the men, Jose Salamanca-Flores, 21, told the officer that he lived next door. He was then asked why he was sitting on the steps of house next door to his, and he reportedly answered that he and his friend were listening to music.

The officer noted that Salamanca-Flores was in possession of two laptop computers, one of which was flipped open, police said, and the reporting party was contacted.

The reporting party came out of the house and immediately recognized one of the laptops as belonging to her, according to reports.

At that time the police officer handcuffed the two men for safety until backup arrived at the scene. Salamanca-Flores reportedly uttered, “He did me wrong.” When asked who it was that did him wrong he replied that an acquaintance had given him the laptops. He furthered added, “He’s a klepto.”

The officer then asked Salamanca-Flores if while knowing this he still took the laptops, and his answer was, “Yes.”

In questioning the reporting parties, it was learned that they had left the residence at around 4:30 p.m. and returned at about 6:00 p.m., and that they had not noticed anything missing upon their return.

It was also learned that although the front door had been locked, the back door had been left unlocked by one of the household’s roommates.

Later that evening, while using their smart phones, they noticed that their Facebook status had been changing in unusual ways. It was then that they checked and found that a laptop was missing from the home.

It was determined that Salamanca-Flores’ companion was not involved in the incident and was set free to leave.

Salamanca-Flores was placed under arrest and charged with multiple counts of receiving stolen property and also booked on warrant charges of defacing property and unarmed burglary.