West Haven police arrested a homeless man Sunday connected to at least 10 commercial burglaries after he admitted to breaking into a pizza restaurant and attempting to force entry into a market on Sawmill Road.
Police responded to the back of Halal Market at 211 Sawmill Road at about 2:20 on Sunday after receiving a report of a "suspicious person attempting to pry open a door" using a crowbar, police said in a news release.
Officers found Marion Mershon, 38, who they described as a "transient," hiding behind a telephone pole nearby. He was holding a shopping bag with rolls of coins and a flashlight and an umbrella concealing a crowbar.
Mershon admitted to police that he broke into Pizza Palace and tried to get into Halal Market but was unsuccessful. Police found signs of forced entry at Pizza Palace. He also confessed to 10 recent commercial burglaries on Campbell Avenue, police said.
Police charged Mershon with third-degree burglary, attempt to commit the crime, possession of burglary tools, first-degree criminal mischief, sixth-degree larceny and interfering with an officer or resisting.
Police held him on a $50,000 bond and he is scheduled to appear in Milford Superior Court on Sept. 2.
