Crime & Safety

Alert Neighbor Helps Catch Career Criminal after Cranston Break-In

Paul Miguel is back in jail after he was caught in the act of allegedly breaking into an Ausdale Road home, police said. A sharp-eyed neighbor got Miguel's license plate as he fled.

An alert neighbor helped police catch a 41-year-old career criminal who broke into an Ausdale Road home and was seen breaking into a Warwick house about 45 minutes earlier on Aug. 24.

Paul Miguel, 41, of 460 Charles St., Providence, is being held without bail as a probation violator after police charged him with breaking and entering, possessing burglary tools and two counts of receiving stolen goods.

According to police, Ausdale Road man called police around 10:50 a.m. to report seeing a bald white man break into the house at 262 Ausdale Road.

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The man, wearing gloves, walked through the back yard, went through a sliding glass door and entered the breezeway. 

The neighbor then heard a bang. It was then that Miguel looked in the direction of the neighbor, who went to call police and noted Miguel drove away in a beige Mercury Sable with license plate No. 557-381. The car matched the description of a car used in a break-in in Warwick shortly before the Cranston incident, police said, and the same man was described at both scenes: white, bald and wearing a blue T-shirt.

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A short time later, Officer John Mastrati was on routine patrol on Reservoir Avenue when he saw the Mercury turn north from Legion Way.

Miguel was behind the wheel after a traffic stop and inside the car, police saw two flat head screwdrivers and a blue T-shirt on the passenger side floor. They also found three watches, a bracelet and a Mariano Rivera baseball card plaque in the center console; a gold necklace in the back seat; a pair of gloves in the driver’s side door; and a bracelet and earring on the rear floor.

Officers popped the trunk and found a two pairs of license plates that were reported as stolen. 

Police also charged Miguel with driving with a suspended license. 

Miguel is due to appear in Third Division District Court on Oct. 26 for the above-mentioned Cranston police charges. Warwick Police charged Miguel with two counts of felony breaking and entering and has a court date of Oct. 15 for an Attorney General screening conference.

Court records show Miguel has been in and out of the court system since 1989 and has been charged with breaking and entering and receiving stolen goods numerous times, including several stints at the Adult Correctional Institutions. 


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