BUCKHANNON – An Upshur County man who is apparently homeless was arrested Tuesday for allegedly entering several residences without permission within the last week.
Brian A. Large, 26, who is listed as homeless on two criminal complaints, was arrested Tuesday, Oct. 11 on two counts of burglary, a felony, in connection to incidents that allegedly occurred on Oct. 8 and Oct. 9, 2022.
According to the first criminal complaint in the Upshur County Magistrate Clerk’s Office filed by Deputy Cole Bender with the Upshur County Sheriff’s Office, on Oct. 8, shortly after midnight, Bender received a call about someone entering their residence on the Brushy Fork Road without permission. Bender spoke to a woman who told him she woke up “and found a man lying on the floor next to a couch her daughter was sleeping on,” the file states. The woman described the person, later identified as Large, as tall and skinny with blonde hair.
She told Bender she wasn’t sure how he entered the home because she believed the door had been locked but couldn’t find any forced entry points. One of the residents at the dwelling reportedly had to ask Large to leave “repeatedly” before he finally acquiesced and exited the home. Shortly after that incident, Bender received another call about Large allegedly knocking on the door of another residence on Brushy Fork Road in an effort to get inside.
Bender’s report goes on to note that, several hours earlier before the first documented incident on Brushy Fork Road, Upshur County Sheriff’s Deputy Dakota Linger and Bender responded to another residence on Brushy Fork Road where the Large allegedly entered the residence and would not leave until officers arrived on scene.
“It has also been reported that Large entered other residences in the City of Buckhannon and looked in mailboxes, going through mail not belonging to him,” Bender wrote in the police report.
According to a second criminal complaint filed in the Upshur County Magistrate Clerk’s office by Patrolman First Class Angel McCauley with the Buckhannon Police Department, on Oct. 9, the next day, McCauley responded to the corner of Randolph and Marion street in reference to a man identified as Large. He had allegedly just entered an apartment and looked through the mail. She noted that the Upshur County Sheriff’s Office had advised Large the day prior that he was trespassing whenever he entered a residence without being invited and he could not continue to go into people’s houses without permission.
When McCauley spoke to Large, he allegedly acknowledged, “He knew what he was doing was a crime and stated he was warned by the Sheriff’s Department to stop entering random houses without permission,” according to the file.
McCauley noted the complaints about Large’s behavior had been “ongoing.”
“This has been an ongoing complaint even after he was given resources for homelessness and addiction,” she wrote in the police report.
Upshur County Magistrate Mark Davis set bail at $20,000 cash only.
The potential penalty for a conviction of burglary is confinement in a state penitentiary for not less than one year nor more than 15 years.
