Crime & Safety

Four Years Later, NK Police Arrest B&E Subject after DNA Hit

A shard of glass, some blood and a hit in the state DNA database four years later appears to have closed a break-in from 2010 at Kane's Gun Shop.

North Kingstown police on March 10 arrested a 24-year-old Providence man and admitted member of a street gang in connection with a July 2010 breaking and entering at Kane's Gun Shop on Boston Neck Road. 

The arrest came after a blood sample taken from the scene returned a hit in the Rhode Island State DNA database on Feb. 18 of this year - nearly four years after the crime.

The hit led police to Steven Lugo, 24, of 337 Point St., Providence, who agreed to a cheek swab on March 4 when detectives tracked him down at his apartment and told him he was a suspect in the break-in.

The swab confirmed that it was the same person who left DNA on a shard of glass at Kane's Gun Shop in the break-in.

Police were called to the gun shop just past midnight on July 5 and saw the front door was smashed.

A review of security video showed two suspects. One used a cam shaft to hammer on the door until it smashed. The other suspect then crawled through the opening and once inside, used a hammer to smash out glass display cases while wearing gloves and a towel over his head.

The suspect was "frantically looking inside the case," according to a police report, then smashed more of the display case before leaving empty handed.

The video showed the suspect, now identified as Lugo, scraping his lower back on the glass around the opening of the shattered front door, leaving behind blood. That blood is what led to the hit this past February.

Police told Lugo he was a suspect on March 4 and he said he might talk to police about the incident after he spoke with a lawyer.

On March 10, Lugo came to North Kingstown Police headquarters with his lawyer and, in a statement, admitted smashing his way into the store that night - a night he spent with several friends driving around drinking alcohol and smoking.

Lugo reportedly said he is a member of the Member of Pine, or MOP, street gang but said the crime was not gang related an he didn't identify anyone who was with him that night, claiming it was his idea to break into the store and nobody else's.

Lugo was charged with felony breaking and entering. 

He was released on personal recognizance and is due to appear in court on April 23 for an Attorney General screening conference.


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