Categories: News, Schenectady County

SCHENECTADY — A city man climbed through a pizza shop’s duct work early Friday morning and then tried to steal a safe before fleeing, authorities said.

He was arrested with the help of information gathered from street surveillance cameras and an ineffective attempt by the man to conceal his face from the store surveillance system, a prosecutor said.

Angel O. Torres, 39, of Van Vranken Avenue, was arrested early Friday afternoon and charged with third-degree burglary and third-degree criminal mischief, felonies.

Torres is accused of climbing into the Dominos Pizza, 1441 Broadway, at about 4 a.m. Friday, getting in through the rooftop duct work, according to police allegations filed in court.

Once successfully inside, Torres attempted to steal a safe, according to the allegations. He then fled empty-handed.

Street cameras captured images of Torres’ vehicle in the area at the time, prosecutor Nicolaus Brooks-McDonald said. The store cameras also captured images of Torres, the prosecutor said.

The suspect attempted to cover his face with his shirt, but it fell a couple times, exposing his face to the cameras. A Dominos manager identified him as Torres, an employee of the shop, Brooks-McDonald said.

Torres is accused of making it safely inside through the duct system, though he allegedly caused an estimated $1,000 in damage to the store’s ventilation system in the process.

The allegations against Torres recall a similar case in 2011 against a man named Timothy Cipriani at a Rotterdam pizza shop, though Cipriani’s duct-work attempt had a markedly different ending.

Cipriani attempted to break into Paesan’s Pizza through the Guilderland Avenue shop’s duct work and got stuck. Rescuers had to pull him out. Cipriani was promptly arrested and later sent to prison.