A man posing as a construction worker broke into a string of Upper East Side businesses and residences in recent months, law enforcement officials said. The burglar took money, mobile telephones, a cable box, an MP3 player, and tools, and in one instance he fled on a bicycle, the officials said.

In all, police officials identified seven cases with similar characteristics in the neighborhood. They were at three residences, two doctors offices, a store, and a restaurant.

A suspect, Edward Byrd, 41, was arrested August 16 and charged by the Manhattan district attorney’s office with committing four of the burglaries, plus one attempted burglary, since February. According to a criminal complaint, Byrd acknowledged to investigators that he did take some of the items that were reported stolen, and he offered explanations of how they came into his possession.

His next court date is next Wednesday, Byrd’s attorney, Katherine Legeros, said.

Byrd, a Brooklyn resident, allegedly donned a dust mask to blend in with construction workers and targeted locations that were under construction during the daylight hours, police officials said.

The most recent crimes attributed to Byrd in what police described as a pattern occurred August 16, according to the court document. At 11:40 a.m. the burglar descended a staircase and attempted to open a locked door at a building on East 90th Street between Second and Third avenues, by “pulling on said locked door numerous times,” the document says. Ten minutes later, he allegedly went into the basement of a commercial establishment on Second Avenue between 87th and 88th streets.

The first in the series of burglaries was on February 6. The suspect entered a business at 68th Street near Fifth Avenue and took a woman’s purse, wallet, and cell phone. Byrd provided the following explanation, the complaint indicates: “I went to use the bathroom and I saw the jacket with the phone and I kicked the bag and the wallet fell out so I took the items.”

On March 21 at 2 p.m., Byrd allegedly entered a building on East 91st Street between Madison and Park avenues and stole three bracelets. “I went to speak to the contractor about doing work,” Byrd told police, according to the criminal complaint. “I felt sick, so I went to the bathroom. I saw the bracelet and left with the bracelet to buy drugs.”

On June 13 at 12:45 p.m., Byrd allegedly went into an employees-only area at a business on 69th Street, between Second and Third avenues, and took money, the document says. Byrd reportedly told the arresting officer: “I went to use the bathroom. I found a paper bag in the hallway by the office and heard change in the bag, so I left with the bag, and there was $90 in the bag.”

Byrd – who is alternately called Eddie Clements in the city’s Department of Correction system – has a history of crime. He was convicted of burglary and in January 1995 received a prison sentence of between two and four years, the agency said. In October 1997 he was sentenced to seven years in prison for breaking parole and committing robbery, along with a prior misdemeanor charge of criminal possession of a controlled substance. In October 2003, Byrd was convicted of criminal possession of a controlled substance, a misdemeanor, and was sentenced to 10 days in jail. Byrd again violated parole in December 2003 and was transferred to a state prison. He was released a month later.