CMPD working to charge Lincoln County burglary suspect for Charlotte crimes

CHARLOTTE — A Facebook post helped Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department officers identify a suspect accused of a similar crime in Lincolnton.

In a news release Tuesday, the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office said they arrested a burglar after a homeowner caught him inside his home and wearing his clothes.

After that case was made public, Channel 9 found a Facebook post helping CMPD identify the same suspect accused in a similar crime 28 miles away — in Charlotte’s Madison Park neighborhood.

Channel 9′s Evan Donovan spoke with several neighbors in Madison Park who found it disturbing.

Police and neighbors said Tanou Chittamath, from Gastonia, broke into a home in Madison Park early Saturday morning. Someone posted pictures to a neighborhood Facebook group later that day.

Neighbors said the alleged burglar was walking around to vacant or for-sale homes, or ones where people were on vacation.

Bryan Edwards lives around the corner from the home broken into on Saturday. He and a couple friends wanted a break from the commotion in South End, so they moved to Madison Park in November.

“It’s definitely a little unsettling. Nothing that I or any of my roommates had heard of around here,” Edwards said. “Definitely something to keep our eyes open and raise our awareness a little bit.”

Several days after the Madison Park break-in, Lincoln County deputies said the same man — whom they identified as Chittamath — broke into two homes in Lincoln County. A homeowner called 911 after arriving home “to find the man standing in his kitchen wearing (his) clothes and shoes.”

Deputies say they found two bags outside with items from inside the home and “evidence that the suspect had also broken into a nearby” home.

CMPD told Channel 9 they are working to obtain warrants for the case in Madison Park.

In Lincoln County, Chittamath was charged with two felony counts of breaking and entering, felony larceny after break and entering, and felony possession of stolen goods. He was not given a bond.

(WATCH BELOW: ‘Very violated’: Business owners express concerns after string of break-ins in Statesville)

‘Very violated’: Business owners express concerns after string of break-ins in Statesville

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