Cal Daniels, 21, of Ridge and Thomas Walker, 22, of Coram were both convicted last month of committing five burglaries at East Margin Road in Ridge, Third Street in Coram, Cardiff Run in Mount Sinai and another at a home on Montauk Highway in East Moriches.
The jury also found Mr. Walker guilty of striking a female burglary victim with a hammer during a burglary at her East Moriches home in June 2007. Mr. Walker went on the lam after committing the crimes and was arrested in December in Waterbury, Conn. during a fugitive sweep by the US Marshal's Regional Fugitive Task Force.
Suffolk District Attorney Thomas Spota said he was grateful the court agreed to sentence the pair to consecutive sentences for the violent burglaries.
"These home invasions occurred late at night and the victims were terrorized, and in one case, brutally assaulted with a hammer," Mr. Spota said in a press release. "Our streets are safer because these two predators are behind bars."
One woman, during her victim's impact statement at the sentencing, scolded the duo for not taking responsibility for their crimes and for "selfishly" going to trial instead of "admitting your guilt and accepting your responsibility," according to the DA's office.
"No one for any reason deserves for this to happen in their home," she said. "Home is where you should feel and be safe."
peggy@northshoresun.com