News

Man sent to prison after admitting to Boxford burglary

By Julie Manganis
Staff writer
Published: November 21, 2008

BOXFORD — A Woburn man was sent to prison for 21âÑ2 to three years yesterday after pleading guilty to burglarizing a Depot Road home last March.

Aaron Burns, 22, was one of three people charged in the burglary on March 11, a burglary that was interrupted by the homeowner's arrival.

Burns admitted to charges of breaking and entering and larceny during a hearing in Salem Superior Court, where Judge David Lowy accepted a plea agreement in the case yesterday.

Two others, Taja Angi, 20, who was Burns' girlfriend, and Julio Perez-Sanchez, 30, of Lynn, are still awaiting trial.

Prosecutor Maureen Wilson-Leal said that the victim came home that afternoon and noticed a woman sitting in a red car outside her home, which is set back from the road some 70 feet.

The woman, later identified as Angi, told the homeowner she was lost and needed directions. As Angi drove away, the woman noticed a man running from behind her home.

The woman called 911 and gave a description. Police stopped the red car and arrested Angi and Perez-Sanchez. A short time later, they found Burns in a wooded area near the home.

Taken in the burglary were three laptop computers, a digital camera, an iPod and three video game systems.

Some of the items were later found in the woods.

Inside the house, police found a television set moved to the top of a stairway and a pillowcase full of other valuables.

Police believe that the burglars gained access through a basement window.

The homeowner came to court yesterday and submitted a written victim-impact statement in which she described the effect the thefts had on her children.

Defense lawyer John Morris said his client "is sorry for what he's done" and eager to get help for a drug problem that drove him to commit the crimes.

That drug treatment will be a condition of his five years' probation after he gets out of prison.

"You're a young man, Mr. Burns," Lowy told the defendant. "This doesn't have to define you or define your life."