A 66-year-old woman, awakened Monday morning by a noise, found Vith in her kitchen, police said.
WESTFIELD – A 66-year-old Riverside Drive woman, awakened Monday morning by a noise in her kitchen, discovered an intruder and chased him out of her home.
“She went to grab him and he ended up falling as he exited the home,” Police Capt. Hipolito Nunez said, adding that the suspect then fled the property.
The woman called police who discovered the suspect a short distance away near the Greater Westfield Boys & Girls Club. Afterward, the woman positively identified the suspect as the man she saw in her kitchen.
Nunez said the suspect, Savuth Vith, 183 Feeding Hills Road, had coins and an automotive cell phone charger in his possession. They later determined that those items had been stolen earlier that morning from a vehicle parked on Riverside Drive.
Vith was charged with breaking and entering in the daytime with intent to commit a felony and larceny from a building, Nunez said.
Vith denied the charges in Westfield District Court. He was ordered held in lieu of $2,500 cash bail and ordered to return to court for a pre-trial hearing on May 4.
Vith was one of at least 18 suspects arrested by Westfield police early last month during sweep that capped a six-month investigation. He was charged with conspiracy to violate drug law (distribution of cocaine).