Police suspect a Thai man who burglarized an elderly American man’s Pattaya apartment was a friend of a woman the expat brought home several nights before.
Security cameras at the apartment house on Soi Chalermprakiat 2 off Third Road showed the unidentified man in his 20s walk directly to the room of 71-year-old Michael Dennis Barnhost Dec. 19.
The burglar knocked and then simply walked in, either because the room was left unlocked or he had a key. He emerged a few minutes later and left without being stopped.
Security footage shows the unidentified man in his 20s walk directly to the victim’s room, then leave a few minutes later without being stopped.
Barnhost called police after he returned to the room to find his smartphone and camera, worth a total 24,000 baht, missing.
Barnhost told police he thought he had locked the door.
The building manager told police Barnhost had lived there for several years without incident. But he had brought young women back to his room occasionally, one just a couple nights before.
Police suspected the man was either a boyfriend, family member or acquaintance of the woman sent to steal items she had seen while there.
