Police: Holbrook Man Arrested for Burglarizing Occupied Homes

A Holbrook man was arrested on Wednesday evening after he burglarized two occupied homes in Holbrook earlier in the day, police said.  

According to police, Fifth Precinct officers responded to a home on Hiram Avenue after a 13-year-old resident reported that an unknown man had entered the house while he was there and he saw the man carrying items from an upstairs bedroom. 

When the burglar noticed that the teen was in the house, he fled in a white Ford pickup truck, police said. A neighbor called 911 and provided a description of the man and the vehicle.

About six minutes later, police received another 911 call of a burglary on Estelle Avenue, where a 14-year-old boy confronted the same man inside his residence after hearing the house alarm, police said. The teen yelled and the man fled, police said. 

Based on the descriptions provided by the teens, who were not injured, and other witnesses, Fifth Precinct officers were able to track down the pickup truck at about 5:15 p.m.  Police arrested the driver, 25-year-old Joseph Schreck. 

Schreck is charged with two counts of second degree burglary. He is also charged with one count of second degree attempted burglary for attempting to break into another home on Estelle Avenue, police said. 

Schreck is also facing charges for a theft that occurred in February at a CVS store in Holbrook, police said. 

Schreck was being held at the Fifth Precinct and was scheduled to be arraigned Thursday morning at First District Court in Central Islip.

The investigation is continuing and detectives are asking anyone with information to contact the Fifth Squad at 631-854-8552.

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