Dongan Hills career thief charged in spate of car break-ins

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on October 14, 2009 at 5:02 PM, updated October 15, 2009 at 5:56 AM

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A career thief from Dongan Hills has been charged in connection with four car break-ins over two months.

Police say John Hyland, 38, of Garretson Avenue, was caught wandering his neighborhood with a GPS device in his hand Monday night.

When police approached him, he told them he was trying to sell the device, authorities said. But the GPS had a home address programmed in, and the police contacted the person at that address and learned the unit had been stolen, authorities allege.

Hyland broke a window to get to the GPS unit, authorities allege.

Police then went to Hyland’s house and got permission from his parents — who, according to a law enforcement source, said they were "tired of him" — to search the place.

There, police found items stolen from three more cars, court papers allege — two on Sept. 10, and one on Aug. 30.

He stole memory cards, charger cables, paperwork, photos, a cell phone, and a Bible, court papers allege.

Police charged Hyland with a single count of third-degree criminal mischief and four counts each of fifth-degree criminal possession of stolen property and petit larceny, said William J. Smith, a spokesman for District Attorney Daniel Donovan.

Public records show Hyland did two stints in state prison — eight years for an attempted robbery and grand larceny conviction from 1993, and nearly three more for a grand larceny conviction from 2005.