Resident Speaks Out After His Apartment Is Burglarized Three Times In One Month

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JAMESTOWN – A Jamestown man is speaking after his apartment was broken into three times this month. He is now considering leaving the area all together to get a break from the crime.

In early November, Richard Young’s Spring Street apartment was burglarized, with the suspect kicking down his front door. Young, who says the man was an acquaintance of his.

“He comes over one day and decides to kick my door in, bum rush me and started hitting on me,” explained Young. “He took some things; I don’t even remember what he got on the table that day.”

The man, who Young says has since been charged in the crime, was released later in the day because of New York State’s Bail Reform Laws. As for the two other break-ins that followed, Young isn’t sure who is responsible.

“They stole my laptop, and got all my cryptocurrency information,” said Young. “I’m out all that money I made over the last two years, and I was just about to retire and move to Massachusetts.”

Young has since taken extra precautions to secure his apartment, like boarding up a door in his bathroom that leads to the basement; an area of the property which is still unsecured even after he asked his landlord for help.

“He’s a slumlord, he lives in Florida and I used to get to contact him,” continued Young. “I was never allowed to talk to this so-called Mr. Wilson.”

The living situation, Young says, is not ideal. The absentee landlord is blamed for several issues like the lack of working heat in the house, currently Young uses his stove to warm up during the winter months.

In the end, the Jamestown man tells us he will likely leave the area all together.

“I want out, it’s just not the state to be no more. New York used to be a great state to me. I would live in no other state,” said Young. “I love Buffalo, and the Buffalo area, the people, I don’t no more.”

This week, New York Governor Kathy Hochul hinted that she would be open to reforming the bail reform law which went into effect in 2020. Many opponents to the legislation say that is one of the primary reasons for repeat crimes like what Young experienced.