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BREAKING: Arrest made in recent robberies

By Howard B. Owens

A burglary at the Batavia Rent-a-Center overnight led police to a suspect in a string of recent robberies in Batavia and Oakfield.

Taken into custody and charged in the robberies was Mark J. Maltese, 44, of 29 Dellinger Ave., Batavia. Maltese and Robert C. Grant, 52, of 2444 Angling Road, Pembroke, are accused of breaking into the Rent-A-Center this morning.

A witness spotted the alleged Rent-A-Center burglary and provided detailed descriptions of the vehicle and followed the vehicle to a residence on Colonial Boulevard where the suspects reportedly joined a birthday party in progress.

The vehicle reportedly matches the description of a vehicle seen leaving the scene of the Days Inn robbery on Sunday morning.

Police said items were recovered this morning tying Maltese to the burglaries at the 7-Eleven, the Best Western and the Days Inn. At this time, Grant is not a suspect in those robberies and there are no other named suspects, but police said the investigation remains open.

The suspects were taken into custody without incident.

UPDATE: For follow-up story, click here.

Sam Tambe Jr.

KUDOS to the person that reported the RAC burglary and followed the suspects. Kudos also to the police/sheriffs dept. for quickly solving these 3 crimes. Kurt, the good thing about living in a small community like this is that word travels fast. If you lived in Buffalo or Rochester the thieves would have just disappeared into the cesspool of many thugs and probably would have never been caught.

Nov 27, 2013, 11:43am Permalink
Doug Yeomans

Want mugshots? Well, I easily found Maltese on facecrook.

Warning..this is an "R" rated page. His friends list reads like a porn star contact list: https://www.facebook.com/mjmaltese

I also found Robert Grant, but I can't say for sure if it's the correct Robert grant, so I'll hold off posting his facecrook page until I see an official mugshot.

Nov 27, 2013, 1:00pm Permalink
Kyle Couchman

LOL Yeah Doug's right, not enough bridges in the county to live under, so to quote a little girl in a scawey scawey movie..... " They're Here!! ! "

Nov 30, 2013, 6:09pm Permalink

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