Sneakers, jacket and car trouble lead to charges in Fox Chapel, O'Hara burglaries

Police said they used a Squirrel Hill man’s distinctive Adidas shoes and North Face jacket to link him to a series of burglaries in Fox Chapel and O’Hara over the course of a year, according to charges filed Tuesday.

Andrew Clinton, 20, faces more than a dozen charges, including burglary, theft, receiving stolen property and criminal mischief.

Police said Clinton came onto their radar on March 28 when they responded to a car stuck in the mud along Field Club Road in Fox Chapel around 6:20 a.m. Clinton, who had been driving the car, told police he got stuck in the mud after pulling over to put an address into his GPS, according to a criminal complaint filed in the case.

The complaint said the responding officer noticed that Clinton’s driver’s license was damaged, which Clinton explained by saying that he often used the license to get into his house when he locked himself out.

An hour earlier, police said, a Ring camera at a home on Field Club Road had recorded someone wearing Adidas tennis shoes with three white stripes and a North Face jacket with distinct marks on the sleeves walking past the front porch.

The homeowners discovered hours later that their house had been burglarized, the complaint said.

Investigators said the man captured on the Ring footage was linked to three other burglaries in O’Hara in February 2021. Surveillance footage from one of those burglaries showed a similar-looking man wearing the same North Face jacket, the complaint said.

Police also linked the suspect to a break-in in Fox Chapel last August, according to the complaint. In that burglary, the suspect took a brass lamp, two portable stereos, a men’s watch and cuff links, police said.

The complaint said Clinton had been arrested in connection with burglaries in Pittsburgh on Oct. 3, 2020, and Feb. 13, 2021.

Police said they staked out Clinton’s Squirrel Hill home and saw him wearing Adidas tennis shoes with white stripes, matching those in the surveillance footage, according to the complaint.

A search warrant executed Monday at Clinton’s home turned up several items reported stolen in Fox Chapel and O’Hara, the complaint said.

Clinton is charged with four counts each of burglary and theft, five counts of receiving stolen property, three counts of criminal mischief and one count of attempted burglary. Court records showed that he remained in Allegheny County Jail in Pittsburgh late Tuesday afternoon, unable to post $20,000 bail. Records did not list an attorney for Clinton.