A Park Slope man has been sentenced to up to four years in prison for a string of commercial break-ins, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez announced Monday.
Charles Wold, a 59-year-old Park Slope resident, was sentenced in Brooklyn Supreme Court to serve six concurrent prison terms of two to four years after he pleaded guilty to six counts of third-degree burglary and one count of third-degree attempted burglary. The DA’s office had originally asked for a sentence of nine to 18 years in prison.
“This defendant is a serial burglar who has shown that he will continue to invade other people’s property if he remains at large, necessitating this prison sentence,” Gonzalez said in a statement. “My office is committed to protecting the safety and property of everyone living in Brooklyn and will continue to prosecute those who victimize our neighbors.”
Wold is connected to seven incidents ranging from Oct. 5, 2021 to Jan. 6, 2022 — five in Park Slope, one in Cobble Hill and one in Sheepshead Bay. He targeted smaller scale restaurants, bars and bodegas — including the Park Slope Ale House and 390 Social Bar and Restaurant — often breaking in in the middle of the night. The investigation found the burglaries caused myriad physical damages to the shops, and Wold stole thousands of dollars in cash, electronics, and other items.
While burglaries in Park Slope have been more or less decreasing since 2000, they increased slightly in 2020 and 2021, according to New York City Police Department data — and 147 burglaries were recorded in the nabe in 2022, down by two from 149 in 2021.
