At the end of a Wednesday morning hearing a federal magistrate decided to delay the release of a man accused of breaking into the Alvaro deLugo Sr. Post Office.
According to court documents, defendant Allen Springette was arrested Monday.
U.S. Magistrate Ruth Miller presided over a detention hearing for the 47-year-old defendant Wednesday morning.
An affidavit filed by a postal inspector said the investigation began Monday with a security alarm from the Alvaro deLugo Sr. Post Office. The magistrate said she wanted more time to think. Police records point to multiple encounters with Springette, described as a homeless man known for throwing rocks through store windows in the Charlotte Amalie area.
Court documents filed Monday describe the post office crime scene discovered by postal inspectors responding to an alarm. Arriving at the scene, they said, they found a blood-stained broken window, a brick on the ground near the broken window and a storage room inside the post office in disarray. They also found blood on the ground outside the post office and on packages inside; Springette outside with a package, cuts and scratches on his limbs.
Inspectors also referred to images captured by security cameras, showing a man wearing dark clothes moving around in the area where the window was broken. In confronting the accused, they said, they noticed the same dark clothing worn by the person seen on surveillance footage.
The defendant waived his right to remain silent following his arrest and told police he used a brick to smash a north facing window at deLugo Post Office and entered the building in the middle of the night, looking for items to steal.
Federal Public Defender Gabriel Villegas told Miller his client had a relative who agreed to serve as a third party custodian but was not present in the courtroom at the Wednesday hearing.
Having a court appointed custodian who promises to ensure the defendant’s appearance at pre-trial hearings is a common condition of release after arrest. Miller said she would postpone the hearing for now. The defendant was returned to the Bureau of Corrections after making an initial appearance.
