Burglary at Breast Cancer Patient's House in May Reportedly Solved

When police charged Justin T. Bennett with 16 burglaries in East Hampton Town this week, they also solved one break-in that garnered particular attention — a woman fighting breast cancer lost money that was raised to help with her treatment and for an upcoming cancer walk.

In May, Chris Foran reported nearly $2,000 in cash stolen from her Springs home. Some of the money was for her to use towards her breast cancer treatment and some of the funds had been raised for her Heaven Can Wait team that participates in the LI2Day Walk, which helps raise money for breast cancer-related initiatives, like Lucia's Room at Southampton Hospital.

The list of burglaries Bennett was charged with after his arrest Thursday included the one at Foran's house, according to court documents.

"I am relieved that they finally made an arrest," Foran said on Friday night. "So many people have been violated and hopefully we can all rest a little easier now. Our community has been in an unsettled state for the past seven months. Now we can move forward."

Bennett, a 35-year-old who grew up in Sag Harbor, lived on Fort Pond Boulevard just 1.2 miles from Foran's Gardiner Avenue house. He told police he needed the money to feed a heroin addiction that developed after he got hooked on prescription pain medications. He told police he acted alone.

Though Bennett has confessed to burglaries between East Hampton and Noyac from January through October, he has only been charged with 16 burglaries in East Hampton so far, which police said resulted in the loss of more than $126,000 in jewelry, cash and prescription medications. More charges are expected.

Foran reported her house was burglarized on May 7 between 1:15 and 5:30 p.m. The burglar got in through a back door. In addition to cash and change, they also stole several pieces of Foran's jewelry. Police took fingerprints and photographs.

Police later asked for the public's help in identifying a red Jeep that was seen near Foran's house on the day of the burglary.

Bennett, however, said he used either his girlfriend's 2003 black Toyota Corolla or his white Jeep Grand Cherokee during the burglaries — usually parking them down the street and walking to the houses, he said. It was not clear on Saturday how the red Jeep played into the investigation.

In the weeks that followed, the community stepped up to try and help. A student-faculty basketball game was organized at East Hampton High School to raise money to help Foran recoup the funds, and Naturopathic Spa turned one of its East End Friday events into a fundraiser for the Heaven Can Wait team, in honor of Foran, who is a client there.

Foran said that the East Hampton Town police contacted her several times over the past week. "They told me they were close to closing the case," she said, adding that she identified some of her jewelry from photographs.

East Hampton Town police said that based on witness descriptions of a dark colored sedan driven by a white man, coupled with information by New York City detectives who recovered a significant amount of jewelry, Bennett became a suspect, though Detective Lt. Chris Anderson declined to say exactly when.

Charged with 14 counts of second-degree burglary and two counts of attempted second-degree burglary, all felonies, Bennett is being held on $100,000 cash or $200,000 bond at the Suffolk County jail in Riverside, and is due back in court on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Foran said she is grateful for the police department's commitment to solving the case. "I know the detectives worked very hard the past few months to solve this," she said, "And like they told me: 'It was just a matter of time that he or she would slip up'."