SOUTH WINDSOR -- Just out of prison in 2013, an East Hartford man could be heading back charged with similar crimes.
Police arrested a man suspected of entering a home Sunday morning, where the homeowner and his two children were sleeping.
Police were called around 2 a.m. to a home on Chapel Road near Main Street for a burglary that was interrupted. The homeowner told police he was home with his children and woke up to find a man holding a gun, standing in the hallway near his bedroom. After the homeowner confronted the suspect, the man ran way from the house, said police.
After the intruder fled and the homeowner called 911, police said they spotted the suspect with a moped in a nearby yard. The suspect, Robert Cummings, 50, of East Hartford, claimed he ran out of gas in the neighborhood, and even admitted he went in the home's garage looking for help.
Police didn't buy the story.
Police said a child in a nearby yard later found what they believe was Cummings' sweatshirt, hood and mask, as well as a flashlight and his loaded handgun. Police said the gun was stolen during a burglary in another town.
Police believe Cummings is also responsible for a home invasion two weeks earlier at the Bryrewood Condos on Twin Circle Drive.
"If you're going into a residential home, on a weekend night, there's a high likelihood that that house is occupied," South Windsor Deputy Police Chief Scott Custer said. "And just the potential for violence and a confrontation between a homeowner and the suspect is very high, so we're very happy to get this individual off the streets."
Cummings, 50, of East Hartford, was charged with home invasion, criminal possession of a firearm, carrying a pistol without a permit, reckless endangerment, two counts of risk of injury to a minor, larceny and criminal attempt to commit larceny. Cummings was held on a $675,000 bond after his arraignment Monday.