Burglary ring members plead to year-old Princetown break-in

PHOTOGRAPHER: Steven Cook

Three men implicated in a Saratoga County burglary ring have pleaded guilty to a break in Schenectady County, officials said.

All three admitted to participation in a burglary on Oct. 26, 2010, in the town of Princetown, prosecutor John Healy said.

It was the Saratoga County case that led investigators back to the Princetown burglary, with items found linking the three to the case, Healy said.

On Tuesday, Andrew Baril, 21, of Milton, appeared before acting Schenectady County Court Judge Polly Hoye, pleading guilty to one count of third-degree burglary. He was represented by attorney Fred Rench.

Baril appeared after being transported from state prison, where he is already serving 8.5 years after pleading guilty in Saratoga County to four counts of second-degree burglary this past summer. In the Schenectady County case, Baril is to receive one to three years in state prison, to run at the same time as his Saratoga County sentence, Healy said.

On Monday, John Irvine Jr., 21, of Ballston Spa, pleaded guilty to one count of third-degree burglary in the same case. He is also to receive one to three years in state prison.

A third man, Micah Henzel, 23, of Ballston Spa, pleaded guilty to third-degree burglary and is to receive six months in jail.

They are to be sentenced in December.

A fourth member of the ring charged in Saratoga County was not charged in the Schenectady County case, Healy said.

The break-ins appeared to have been random and included homes in Milton, Malta, Charlton, Stillwater, Greenfield, Wilton and Ballston Spa in Saratoga County; Princetown in Schenectady County; and areas of Albany and Montgomery counties, Saratoga County prosecutors have said.

The thieves would wait until they knew a house was empty and then would break in through a door or window and search quickly for jewelry and other items that could be placed in a pillow case. They would leave the way they came in.

After stealing from an area for a while, the four would drive for miles searching for a new area for their crimes, prosecutors said.