Joseph Coito, 19.
CENTERVILLE – The Barnstable Police Department arrested a man who allegedly broke into and robbed the Centerville Pie Company last week.
On the morning of September 19, employees of the Centerville Pie Company discovered that the store had been broken into overnight and two locked safes containing over $1,900 had been stolen from the bakery.
An officer from the Barnstable County Sheriff’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation responded to the scene and was able to lift a fingerprint from the cash register drawer.
The suspect’s fingerprint was uploaded into the police department’s Automated Fingerprint Identification System and a match for Joseph Coito, 19, was provided by the computer.
In addition, Barnstable police detectives were able to view security video from the bakery and believed that Coito was the suspect that had broken into the store and removed the safes.
At the time of the initial investigation, Coito’s whereabouts were unknown.
However, on Sunday afternoon an off-duty police officer spotted Coito walking in the shopping plaza directly across from the Centerville Pie Company.
Barnstable patrol units then responded to the area and arrested Coito for the break in at Centerville Pie Company.
Police believe Coito carried the safes from the pie company to the cemetery directly behind the business.
Coito then telephoned some associates who arrived with a pickup truck and moved the safes to a wooded area next to Lumbert Pond in Centerville.
Police say they then broke into the safes and removed the money and split it between the conspirators.
The suspects then threw the safes into Lumbert Pond, according to police.
On Monday, the Centerville-Osterville-Marstons Mills Fire Department Dive Team responded to Lumbert Pond and assisted the Barnstable Police Department with recovery of the safes as evidence.
Joseph Coito was charged with breaking and entering in the nighttime intent to commit a felony, larceny of property over $250, 2 counts of injury to a depository, possession of marijuana, and possessing a mislaid credit card.
Coito was arraigned in Barnstable District Court, and his bail was set at $500.
The investigation is ongoing.
