A 55-year-old man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for burglarizing three homes and four businesses in southern Brooklyn, the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office announced Wednesday.
John Catullo, from Bensonhurst, was handed down the sentence by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun on May 29 on two indictments related to two seven burglaries.
Catullo initially pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree burglary on Nov. 16, 2023, for six burglaries committed between August 2022 and January 2023 with the help of an accomplice, 36-year-old Sam Kravchenko of Coney Island.
After pleading guilty, Catullo committed a seventh burglary while out on bail on Dec. 1, stealing a diamond ring and $3,000 in cash from a home on 72nd Street in Bensonhurst.
He was indicted and pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree burglary for that incident on May 14.
According to the DA’s office, the two men first burglarized a private home on West 12th Street in Gravesend on Aug. 8, 2022, stealing two Rolex watches, a Cartier gold watch, a gold necklace with a diamond cross, a gold bracelet, a diamond bracelet, and diamond earrings.
The following month on Sept. 6, the men broke into a grocery store on 17th Avenue in Bensonhurst, stealing a safe containing approximately $15,000 cash as well as a cash register containing petty cash.
On October 6, they burglarized two grocery stores. The first was located on Bath Avenue in Bath Beach, with the men stealing a security box containing approximately $10,000 cash and a cash register containing petty cash.
The second occurred at a store located on New Utrecht Avenue in Bensonhurst, from which they stole a security box containing approximately $10,000 cash and a cash register containing petty cash.
On Nov. 13, the pair stole approximately $38,211 worth of merchandise from a Bensonhurst vape shop before hitting a private home on 76th Street on Jan. 18, 2023. During the break-in at the Bensonhurst home, the men made off with $7,000 cash, two Rolexes, a Cartier bracelet, a necklace and matching earring set, and a gold necklace.
Kravchenko was arrested on Jan. 26, 2023, after a car stop for failure to signal, in which cops said he was driving with a suspended license, and allegedly in possession of 39 Oxycodone pills along with two police scanners.
According to the DA’s office, the Coney Island man was linked to the string of burglaries using cell phone sites, enhanced video and other evidence.
Kravchenko pleaded guilty to third-degree burglary, criminal possession of a firearm and second-degree criminal trespass on April 10, 2024 and was sentenced on April 24 to two to six years in prison.
“These prison sentences reflect the seriousness of the crimes these serial burglars committed and send a strong message that this conduct will not be tolerated in Brooklyn,” said Brooklyn DA Eric Gonzalez. “My office takes property crime and retail theft very seriously, and I’m grateful to our partners and the NYPD for their excellent work holding these defendants accountable.”
