FedEx Worker Goes on Trial for Burglary
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
The case of a FedEx employee who allegedly wore his uniform shirt while burglarizing apartments on the Upper East Side is expected to go before the grand jury tomorrow, police said.
After about a week of wrangling between the defense attorney and police, Royce Baker, 26, turned himself in to police on Thursday, the authorities said. Police want him to be charged with four crimes, although they said he is suspected of committing at least an additional 10 burglaries.
At 9 a.m. on September 20,before his FedEx courier shift began, Baker was allegedly caught on videotape stealing a laptop from a doctor’s office on East 84th Street, police officials said.
Baker then clocked in for his FedEx shift and at 10:15 a.m. entered another building a couple of blocks west on East 84th Street after saying he needed to use the bathroom, officials said. A tenant in the building returned home from walking her dog and said she found the suspect in her bedroom. When a 69-year-old doorman tried to stop him from fleeing, Baker punched him in the face and caused damage to the lobby door, police said. Outside, the thief is said to have pulled off his FedEx shirt and tossed it to his boss in the company truck, saying he had a problem and needed to take off. Baker left the scene on foot. His employer, who owns a FedEx route, fired Baker shortly thereafter, police sources said.
Baker, who lives in Queens, has spent time in state prison for felony criminal possession of a controlled substance. He was placed in a lineup and positively identified in another case, police sources said. He was rearrested and charged with a burglary that took place eight days earlier on East 90th Street.
In a fourth case on the Upper East Side last month, a woman was asleep when the suspect stole her laptop, police sources said. When the woman awoke, she realized her computer and the cash in her purse were missing. Subsequently, the suspect allegedly sold the laptop to his FedEx boss for $800. After the employer learned Baker was an alleged burglar, he grew suspicious about the origins of the laptop and reportedly turned in the computer to police.
Police are culling over past burglary police reports, hoping to match Baker’s fingerprints with fingerprints lifted in other cases.
“Burglaries are very difficult because you have a very large gap” between the time of the crime and its discovery, police said.
