Repeat Schenectady burglar to get additional prison time

PHOTOGRAPHER: Steven Cook

A city teen who broke an earlier plea deal by getting arrested on a new burglary charge while awaiting sentencing for a previous burglary now faces up to six years in prison another new guilty plea Friday.

Being arrested on a new burglary charge while awaiting sentencing on an old burglary charge was a feat matched previously by the teen’s original co-defendant.

Pleading guilty Friday was Kareem J. Brown, 19, of Schenectady. Brown faces two to six years in prison, a sentence that includes his original third-degree burglary plea and his plea Friday to second-degree attempted burglary.

Brown originally pleaded guilty in April to third-degree burglary, a felony. In exchange for that plea, he was to receive six months in jail and possibly be granted youthful offender status. Brown admitted then to helping break into a Devine Street home in Rotterdam to steal copper pipe.

Brown and a co-defendant, Duane Oates, caused an estimated $5,000 in damage. Brown was to be formally sentenced in that case in July and had already served his sentence by then and been released under probation supervision.

But, just 11 days after his April plea, Brown was arrested, accused with another teen — James Mason, 17, also of Schenectady — of trying to break into a Lenox Road home. They were spotted by a neighbor as they tried to pry a window open and cut two basement window screens, according to papers filed in court.

Mason pleaded guilty earlier in the week in exchange for six months in jail.

Brown’s second arrest meant the original offer was void, and he was exposed to as much as 21⁄3 to 7 years, as well as the new case.

On Friday, Brown accepted the new plea offer, which included the agreed-upon increased sentence in the original burglary. He was represented by attorney Brian Mercy.

Brown‘s co-defendant in the September break-in, Oates, admitted in December 2011 to doing the same thing. Oates originally was arrested for a September 2010 break-in, pleaded guilty and was awaiting sentence in September 2011 when he broke into the house with Brown.

Oates’ deal in his original burglary case was similar to Brown‘s, a six-month jail sentence coupled with youthful offender status.

Oates pleaded guilty to the September 2011 burglary, as well. Between his two cases, Oates ended up with a sentence of two to three years in prison.