Suspect in Garage Burglary Now Faces Charges

A 53-year-old Milwaukee man is facing charges after he was caught .

William Hershel Campbell was charged Saturday in Milwaukee County Circuit Court with one count of burglary. If convicted, he faces up to 12½ years in prison and $25,000 in fines.

According to the criminal complaint:

Last Thursday, a resident in the 2100 block of Swan Boulevard heard his alarm system go off at 1:50 a.m. and saw from his alarm display that his garage had been entered.

He went to his detached garage, where he found Campbell sitting in the passenger seat of his van. He told Campbell to get out, which he did, but Campbell then grabbed the overhead door opener handle, pulled it and ran out into the alley.

The homeowner found that a GPS unit and money were missing from the van.

officers staked out a car parked a couple of blocks from the residence and about 2½ hours later saw Campbell walking back to the car.

They stopped him as he pulled away and found a collection of suspicious items  in his car, including a GPS unit, two garage door openers, a cell phone, a flashlight, pliers, wire cutters and a pair of black gloves.

However, the GPS unit was not the one taken from the Swan resident, and it was not recovered.

Also in the car was a handicap parking hangtag belonging to an elderly Milwaukee woman who had reported a theft from her car a couple of weeks earlier.

The victim later identified Campbell as the man who was in his van.

Campbell said that he had been driven to the area by a friend named "D" who was the one planning to break into cars. But Campbell could not offer a reasonable explanation of where he had been or what he had been doing during several hours or how it was that only he had returned to the car and driven it away.

He’s currently being held in Milwaukee County Jail on $2,500 bond.