Waterford police charge second man in September home invasion
Waterford — Police have charged a second person who they say broke into a Waterford home last year and took half an ounce of marijuana at gunpoint.
David Beckwith faces charges of first-degree robbery, first-degree burglary, home invasion and three counts of conspiracy to commit a crime after police arrested him Wednesday morning at his Jewett City home.
Police connected Beckwith, 24, with Andrew J. Henault, a Preston man who also faces robbery, burglary and home invasion charges for the September 2016 incident, in which police say the two men entered a home off Oil Mill Road by pulling out an air conditioning unit from a window.
A person in the house at the time told police that both men were wearing masks, and that one of the men held him at gunpoint on the floor and said, “I am just here for the money,” according to an arrest warrant affidavit in Henault’s case.
During their investigation, police found that Henault, 24, had used Beckwith’s cellphone to text one of the residents of the Waterford house, asking the person for a half-ounce of marijuana the night before the robbery.
Beckwith could not explain to police why Henault had his phone, police said.
He said he occasionally let Henault use the phone, but that he had cut ties with Henault because he suspected the 24-year-old, who has a known history of addiction to heroin, was using the drug again, according to an arrest warrant affidavit in Henault’s case.
Henault named Beckwith and a Lisbon man, Tyler R. Kudej, as the culprits in the robbery during a police interview, according to the affidavit.
Henault told police he was only traveling in the back seat of the vehicle and dozed off after consuming Klonopin, a controlled substance to treat anxiety. Henault claimed he overheard the two men talking about robbing the victim’s home, and later watched the two men leave the vehicle wearing ski masks.
Kudej has not been arrested in connection with the case.
After the robbery, Henault said all three of them smoked the stolen marijuana, police said.
Beckwith appeared in New London Superior Court Thursday. He is being held in lieu of a $150,000 bond and is expected back in court on March 28.
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