NORFOLK, Va. — A man convicted of breaking into a Norfolk woman's home and stealing her groceries in 2021 was sentenced to three years in prison.
The sentencing for Nathaniel Taylor, 22, comes after he pleaded guilty to charges of felony burglary and misdemeanor petit larceny in the Norfolk Circuit Court on Monday.
The break-in happened on Dec. 27, 2021, at a house on Hammett Avenue, near Tidewater Drive in the Northside part of the city. The woman who owned the home wasn't there at the time.
According to the Norfolk Commonwealth's Attorney's Office, Taylor stole a pack of frozen meat, a bottle of wine and a bottle of Irish cream. He got out of the home through a side door, leaving it wide open.
When the woman got home around 5 p.m. that day, she saw that her home had been burglarized, and called police, the Norfolk Commonwealth's Attorney's Office said.
Earlier that afternoon, the Norfolk Police Department got 911 calls about a person roaming through backyards, looking into homes and seemingly trying to open windows in the same neighborhood.
Norfolk police officers who responded approached Taylor, who matched the descriptions shared in the 911 calls and was carrying a backpack.
Taylor allowed the officers to search his backpack, and they found items later reported to have been stolen. But because the burglary hadn't been reported yet, Taylor was allowed to leave, according to the Norfolk Commonwealth's Attorney's Office.
Police later got arrest warrants for Taylor after the burglary report came in, and he turned himself in on Dec. 31, 2021.
In addition to three active years in prison, seven years of Taylor's sentence were suspended as long as he doesn't contact the victim, and completes two years of good behavior and a year of supervised probation when he gets out of prison.
At the time of the 2021 burglary, Taylor was on probation for a prior burglary conviction. A judge will figure out whether he faces additional sanctions for violating the terms of his probation during a hearing on Feb. 20.
"When a burglar breaks into someone’s home, he steals something much more precious than property,” Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi wrote in a news release. “A burglar steals a person’s sense of happiness and security in her home. Mr. Taylor did that to this victim and, regardless of his reasons for doing so, he must serve his sanction.”
