Crime & Safety
Alert Neighbor Helps Capture Burglars, Muskego Police Say
Robert E. Briggs, 26, tells Muskego police officer the "case is a slam dunk" against him, according to the criminal complaint.
An alert Muskego neighbor helped police officers capture two Milwaukee County residents who burglarized a home on July 5, according to a criminal complaint.
Robert E. Briggs, 26, of West Allis, and Alya G. Henry, of Milwaukee, were charged Tuesday in Waukesha County Circuit Court.
A neighbor encountered Briggs and Henry outside a home on Canterbury Court and contacted police at 12:43 p.m. July 5. She had heard glass breaking at her neighbor’s home and saw Henry waiting in a nearby vehicle. Briggs soon walked outside carrying a white bag with heavy objects, according to the complaint.
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The neighbor confronted Briggs, who hopped in the vehicle and took off, the complaint states. The watchful neighbor took down the vehicle’s license plate number and contacted police.
Henry borrowed the vehicle from a friend to attend a doctor’s appointment at Planned Parenthood, the complaint states. Henry told police Briggs asked her to drive to the Muskego house to pick up a paycheck from his aunt’s home. While she was waiting outside the home, she heard glass breaking and knew Briggs burglarized the home when he came back with blood on his knuckles.
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Henry, a self-described heroin addict, told police they drove to a hotel in Milwaukee after they left Muskego, the complaint states.
The homeowner and her daughter returned home after being gone for several days. The daughter has been friends with Briggs for six years and said he was at the home days earlier when he learned the family would be gone for several days, the complaint states. The family was missing cell phones and jewelry after the break-in.
The missing jewelry was traced to a store in Milwaukee, the complaint states.
An officer told Briggs during booking that he would see Briggs at the preliminary hearing.
“Preliminary hearings are a waste of time,” Briggs told the officer, according to the complaint. “You did your homework and have the evidence you need. Your case is a slam dunk.”
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