Porter County Sheriff's Department

Surveillance Photo

Surveillance photo leads to arrest

By Ken Kosky

Tuesday, April 08, 2008

SOUTH HAVEN | Just hours after Porter County police gave The Times a surveillance photo of the unidentified man who burglarized the Family Express convenience store in South Haven, someone saw the photo on the newspaper Web site and identified the man for police.

 Police said that tip led to the arrest Friday of Donald J. Paterson, 27, who lives at 6 Harmony Circle in the Meadowview Trailer Park, which is near Family Express.
Police said Paterson admitted committing Wednesday's burglary at Family Express and two other South Haven business burglaries -- the one Wednesday at Archie's Auto Recyclers and the one March 29 at Super Wash.
Porter County police Major Steve Lawrence said police are also investigating Paterson's involvement in other burglaries.
Sheriff David Lain said solving the cases, which was aided by a tip from the public, shows the community has "bought in" and is willing to help police.
"Every time we put something out like this (a surveillance photo), the public seems to come through and assist our investigation," Lawrence added.
The Family Express burglary occurred at 3:19 a.m. Wednesday at the store at U.S. 6 and Juniper Road in South Haven. Police said a window was broken during the burglary and blood was found at the scene. Detective Sgt. Bill Young found blood outside Paterson's home, Lawrence said.

Police said they obtained a search warrant for Paterson's home and found lottery tickets that had been stolen from Family Express and property belonging to Archie's.