Dog Helped Nab Suspected Serial Burglar

"The whole case was solved by a dog that needed to go out" and with that a Fairfax County police officer regaled the McLean Citizens Advisory Committee with the real story of how the Fairfax serial burglar was arrested in November.

From late August to November, a night-time burglar entered unlocked occupied homes in wealthy neighborhoods in the northern part of Fairfax, stealing cash and personal items. More than 100  homes were robbed.  

When Brad, K. Edmonds, 34, of Oxon Hill, Md, was arrested Nov. 18, a Fairfax County police press release said, "An alert resident called police about a suspicious vehicle parked on their street around 4 a.m., Monday, November 8. Officers located the vehicle, initiated a traffic stop, and subsequently developed information that linked the vehicle and its driver to the series of burglaries. Subsequently, several incidents were reported in the same area."

The rest of the story as told by Master Police Officer Patrick Lucas of the Fairfax County Police Crime Prevention Unit: That resident lived in a community where some of the burglaries had occurred. Police had told residents to report any suspicious activity. That resident also owns a dog named Bandit.

Bandit has a routine. In the early morning hours of Nov. 8, Bandit awakened his owner for their usual pre-dawn walk. During the walk, the owner saw a "suspicious" looking car parked in their neighborhood. What was suspicious about the car? It had out-of-state license tags, Officer Lucas said.

Bandit and his owner returned home and called Fairfax County Police, Lucas said. The police ran the tag. "The license tag was a great lead," Lucas said.

Fairfax sent officers to wait for the driver to return. At some point they contacted Montgomery County Police. Montgomery police started following the car's owner, Lucas said.

About a week later, "on November 16 at approximately 12:15 a.m., Fairfax County Police detectives and 1st District investigators were conducting a joint surveillance on Edmonds in the area of Evening Ride Drive in Potomac. After several hours, this surveillance was concluded when Edmonds departed from the area," said the press release the Montgomery police issued the date Edmonds was arrested.

They followed Edmonds most of the day "and, at approximately 4:30 a.m. on November 17, stopped him at the intersection of River Road and Falls Road and placed him under arrest," the Montgomery police statement said.

Edmonds of the 1100 block of Kennebec Street in Oxon Hill was charged with first-degree burglary, attempted first-degree burglary, two counts of malicious destruction of property under $500, two counts of theft between $1,000 and $10,000, two counts of rogue and vagabond, theft under $1,000, fourth-degree burglary tools, possession of a firearm after a felony conviction, possession of a stolen firearm, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. He is being held on a $425,000 bond at the Montgomery County Detention Center.

"If it weren't for him (Bandit's owner) calling in the suspicious vehicle we would probably still be looking for it," Lucas told the citizen committee.