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Police report another Silver Beach burglary two weeks after brutal crime in the area

REPORTER FILE PHOTO
REPORTER FILE PHOTO

The Shelter Island Police Department is reporting another burglary in Silver Beach, two weeks after the home invasion burglary in the same area of the Island.

According to Police Chief Jim Read, the burglary in an unoccupied residence was reported early yesterday afternoon when the owners “returned after being away for an extended period of time,” the chief said. “Detectives are exploring the possibility that the burglary and the discovery of a burglary two weeks ago in the same area might be connected.”

Chief Read added that the recent incident is “broadening the scope of looking at suspects.”

Along with the Shelter Island Police Department, the Suffolk County Police Department Major Case squad is investigating the two incidents.

The police are asking anyone in the area who has a video surveillance system that could help the investigation to contact the police department at (631) 749-0600 or Suffolk County Crime Stoppers at (1-800) 220-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential.

On March 19, Reverend Paul Wancura, 87, an Episcopal priest, was discovered in his Oak Tree Lane home in Silver Beach bound by the hands slumped between a bed and a wall. He had apparently been left in that condition for at least two days.

The victim of a brutal home invasion and burglary, Reverend Wancura was airlifted to Stony Brook University Hospital where he remains in critical condition. At the time, the Shelter Island Police and Suffolk County Police departments said the incident was not a random one and the elderly minister had been targeted.

That analysis might have changed with the report of another Silver Beach burglary.

Earlier this week, Reverend Wancura was still in the intensive care unit of the hospital but was showing some signs of improvement, according to his colleague, Father Charles McCarron, pastor of St. Mary’s Episcopal Church.