Police: Habitual Village Intruder Steals Money, Hangs Out in Victim's Kitchen

The following information was supplied by the . A criminal charge is only an accusation, and does not indicate convictions.

Henri Alvarez, 24, of Greenport, was arrested and charged with burglary on Feb. 23 at 2:50 a.m., after a 44-year-old Greenport man called 911 to say that Alvarez was sitting in his kitchen without permission, police said. Further investigation also revealed that Alvarez had stolen money from the victim’s wallet, police said.

Alvarez has a reputation for walking into people’s unlocked houses without permission.

In September of 2009, after three complaints from village residents to police regarding Alvarez’s behavior, Southold Town Police finally arrested and charged Alvarez with criminal trespassing. The arrest prompted the concern at the time of and

Cochran told the in 2009 that the police department “knows [Mr. Alvarez] is a problem; we've made the arrest and I don't know what the final solution is.” The then-chief also said that Alvarez had never entered a home that was locked and advised villagers to lock up and install motion-detector lights if they don’t have them.

said on Thursday afternoon that the victim this time around did the right thing by calling 911 when he awoke and saw Alvarez uninvited in his residence.

"Obviously, we can never anticipate what state of mind someone is in that would actually enter a strange house that is obviously inhabited, and for that matter, what state of mind the occupants/owners of the house will be in either when they awaken from sleep and encounter a stranger in their house," Chief Flatley said. "It creates an extremely dangerous situation, not knowing if Alvarez is armed or not or the owner is armed and is willing to protect his residence.

"In this arrest earlier this morning, I believe it showed significant restraint on the part of the occupants of the house not to immediately confront the intruder, but to call 911 and give one of our officers the opportunity to resolve the incident successfully with an arrest," he continued. "This course of action would always be the preferred method and the preferred outcome."