A Warner man is accused of breaking into a Concord home, giving himself a haircut, and then stealing a Ford Explorer exactly three weeks after police allege he attempted to leave Concord Hospital in a Hopkinton Fire Department-owned ambulance.
Thomas Dawson, 32, faces two counts of receiving stolen property and one count each of burglary, driving after suspension of license and breach of bail conditions.
Prosecutors say Dawson burglarized a home on South Main Street in the city on Aug. 14, just six days after he was released from the county jail on bail conditions stemming from the incident at Concord Hospital. In the latter case, he faces a charge of theft by unauthorized taking.
Despite the back-to-back offenses, Merrimack County Superior Court Judge Andrew Schulman ordered Dawson released on personal recognizance on the condition that he remain under the supervision of the county’s pretrial services program. Dawson must live at an address approved by the program.
When Concord police arrested Dawson in the hours after the burglary, they did so at a homeless encampment off Blackhill Road where he had been staying. Schulman wrote in his latest bail order that the court is aware of “the lack of stability” in Dawson’s life, but said “housing instability is not a reason for incarceration and jails are not homeless shelters.”
“On the other hand, it is the defendant’s obligation to use his best executive functioning despite the stressors in his life to comply with bail conditions,” he continued. “Put another way, substantive breaches of bail conditions may leave the court without too many options.”
Police responded to 374 South Main St. on Aug. 14 after 911 dispatchers received a report of a burglary. Concord Officer Justin Brophy spoke with the resident who said he returned home to find a pair of wet, muddy boots near the front porch and several items out of place. The resident reported that an air conditioner had been pushed through the window and onto a pile of clothes.
Inside, the resident found a wet pair of shorts in the bathroom, an open ginger ale can on the counter and freshly shaved hair all over the bathroom, according to a police affidavit. A new pair of Nike Air Jordan sneakers were also missing. Further, the resident said, a black Ford Explorer registered to his father was gone from the driveway.
A neighbor told police he had confronted an unknown man about an hour earlier, but the man said he lived there.
Responding officers entered the vehicle’s information into the National Crime Information Center database and informed patrol officers to be on the lookout for the Ford Explorer in the city. Not long after, an officer located the vehicle near a homeless encampment off Blackhill Road, but no one was inside.
A man at the campsite told police that Dawson had given him a ride there in the Ford Explorer, according to the affidavit. Police attempted to speak with Dawson, who was nearby, but he refused to provide a statement. They observed that he was wearing new Nike Air Jordan sneakers that were too big for him, and believed they were the ones stolen from the residence on South Main Street.
“Mr. Dawson’s hair also appeared to have been recently cut. It was very uneven,” Brophy wrote in the affidavit.
When police took Dawson into custody for the burglary, they learned that his license to drive was suspended by the New Hampshire Department of Motor Vehicles in July for nonpayment of child support.
Just days prior to his arrest, Dawson was released from jail on an unrelated charge of theft. Police said on July 24 they responded to Concord Hospital after a security guard there confronted a man, later identified as Dawson, for attempting to steal an ambulance parked in the emergency room bay.
Surveillance video shows Dawson leaving Concord Hospital by foot and then entering the emergency room bay. At first, he attempted to get into the ambulance through the passenger’s side door but it was locked, according to a police affidavit. He was able to open the driver’s side door, but once inside he was immediately confronted by a hospital security officer.
Hopkinton Fire Chief Jeff Yale told Concord police that the department purchased the ambulance for $250,000 but that fully equipped it is valued at $300,000.
Dawson is next scheduled to appear in court in October.