Yesterday, a story was posted on GreeneStreets about a Bloomfield man accused of walking into a yard late at night on March 6, with no reason to be there, then walking up onto a back porch and peering into a residence through a window. On Monday, the same suspect was arrested in Bloomington after being identified through video surveillance footage. He’s accused of a break-in and assault on a woman who was asleep and woke to find him in her bedroom, and other break-ins in Bloomington. In this story, the GreeneStreets story is reposted followed by this morning’s story in the Herald-Times of Bloomington by Laura Lane, reprinted with permission.

Story posted on GreeneStreets on March 16, 2020:

Man reported for peering through window into a house in Bloomfield

A Bloomfield man is accused of walking into a yard late at night with no reason to be there, then walking up onto a back porch and peering into a residence through a window.

On Saturday, March 6, a Bloomfield resident, who lives on East Mechanic Street, called 911 and said on Friday night around 12:15 a.m., someone was standing on his back porch looking through the window on his back door. He had video of the incident.

Officer Blazier was dispatched and watched the video. He said it shows a young white man in a light-colored hoodie walking around the back yard, which was fenced. The subject then walked up to the back porch and was looking into the residence through the window on the back door. Officer Blazier recognized the subject as Anthony Wayne Grubb, Jr. The resident did not know Grubb.

Officer Blazier reported the video shows Grubb then walking off the porch in a slow, quiet manner in an attempt to avoid being heard. Grubb then opened the gate on the fence slowly and left the back yard. Grubb allegedly started to shut the gate but purposely did not so he didn’t make any noise. Grubb then walked around the back of the property and headed through a neighbor’s yard.

Officer Blazier had talked to Grubb earlier that same night and Grubb was wearing the same hoodie and sneakers as in the video. He said he could also see Grubb’s face in the video and could identify him.

Grubb was located and asked to go to the police department to talk about the incident. Grubb allegedly admitted he did cut through some yards the night before but said he didn’t look in any windows. He admitted he went through a couple of gates but said he did not walk on any back porch.

When Officer Blazier showed the video to him, Grubb admitted it was him in the video and said that he was just passing through.

Grubb was advised he had no reason to be in the fenced-in yard and that he was not allowed to be back on the property.

Grubb was recently charged with theft in another case pending in Greene County and he was convicted of burglary in 2015 in Monroe County.   

A summons has been issued ordering Grubb to appear in Greene Superior Court in April for an initial hearing on a charge of criminal trespassing, a Class A misdemeanor.

Story posted on the Herald-Times on Wednesday, March 17, 2020:

Security video leads to arrest in burglary spree, assault
By Laura Lane, Herald-Times

Police say a Bloomington man facing burglary charges in three recent residential break-ins was identified as a suspect through a surveillance camera video from inside one of the homes.

He was arrested Monday night, about 14 hours after the third break-in, at a residence in the 1700 block of South Olive Drive. In that burglary, a 23-year-old woman told police she awoke to find a man in her bed on top of her. She hit him multiple times, and he struck her in the face before fleeing, a police report filed in the case said.

In the second incident, images of an intruder searching through an apartment in The Boulders at Deer Park and peering into a child’s bedroom were filmed about 3 a.m. Saturday. The father and mother were asleep in their bedroom when the woman awoke to see the man standing next to her bed.

She screamed, and he ran out the door he entered though, which may have been left unlocked.

The first burglary happened just after midnight that same morning. The same man is suspected of crawling through a window at a nearby apartment and stealing cash, a backpack and a rosary before leaving. The couple living there told police they were outside entertaining a friend and didn’t realize someone had crawled through a bedroom window and robbed them.

Police arrested 27-year-old Anthony Wayne Grubb Jr., of 1511 S. Huntington Drive, at his home about 6:30 p.m. Monday. He also has an address on North Franklin Street in Bloomfield listed on the arrest log.

Grubb is charged with three counts of burglary, battery resulting in bodily injury and being a habitual criminal offender. He was being held at the Monroe County Jail without bond on a probation violation from Greene County, and had an initial court hearing in Monroe County scheduled for Wednesday afternoon on the latest charges.

Viewing the video led police to suspect the intruder could be Grubb, so investigators got a search warrant Monday afternoon for his home. He was arrested there and taken to the Bloomington Police Department to be questioned, then to jail.

BPD Capt. Ryan Pedigo outlined the three burglaries, two early Saturday morning and the third early Monday. All were within three-tenths of a mile from the house where Grubb was living.

At 12:42 a.m. Saturday, an officer responded to a residence in the 1200 block of East Cobblefield Court where 27-year-old man reported that he and his girlfriend noticed an open window and found a patio table had been moved beneath the bedroom window to gain access.

About 3 the same morning, officers were called to a burglary in progress at an apartment on Weatherstone Lane. A 38-year-old woman reported that she awoke to find someone moving nearby. “The woman believed it was her child, but when she sat up in bed, she observed an unknown man inside the room.”

Video footage showed the man had entered the apartment at 2:35 a.m. through a sliding-glass door. He was there 20 minutes before leaving through the same door at 2:55.

At 3:54 a.m. Monday, the woman who lives on Olive Drive called about a break-in and assault that had just happened. When the victim awoke to find a man on top of her, “she said she began striking the man with her hands in an effort to get him off of her and the man reportedly struck her back in her face, resulting in an injury to her cheek,” Pedigo’s report said.

“The unknown man then fled from the bedroom and down the steps, where he exited the residence through the front door. The woman stated that both doors to the residence had been locked when she went to bed and it was believed that the suspect had gained entry to the home through a window.”

Grubb has multiple criminal cases pending in Monroe and Greene counties from 2020, court records show, charging him with trespass, theft and three counts of fraud.