Man bartered stolen cigarettes for crack

A break-in that did more than $500 worth of damage to a Rutland convenience store was allegedly carried out to obtain packs of cigarettes that were traded for crack cocaine, according to city police.

More than a month after the side window of the Stewart’s convenience store at the corner of Grove and State streets was smashed out by someone who stole $356 worth of cigarettes and snack food, 29-year-old Christopher A. Loseby appeared in court Monday to answer to four charges related to the incident.

Loseby, who described himself as homeless in a police affidavit, pleaded innocent in Rutland criminal court to a felony charge of burglary and misdemeanor counts of unlawful mischief, petty larceny and unlawful trespass.

Loseby, who came to court on a citation, was released on court conditions.

City police said there was no one at the store when police responded to an alarm there just before 1 a.m. on Sept. 8.

But less than 12 hours later, Loseby came to the police department to turn himself in, Detective David LaChance said in an affidavit.

Loseby, who received cuts to his elbow and hands that were bleeding when he arrived at the department, allegedly told police that he decided to break into Stewart’s after a woman he was smoking crack with earlier in the evening told him he could trade packs of cigarettes for crack from a dealer she knew.

Loseby, who police said ran out of crack and money on the night of Sept. 7, told police he left the woman’s home on Church Street and walked downtown where he thought about breaking into a shop on Center Street before going to Stewart’s where he told police he threw two bricks through a side window.

Once inside he said he grabbed two cartons and about six to eight packs of cigarettes before walking back to Center Street where the woman who had suggested a trade for drugs reportedly called a dealer who took the tobacco in exchange for two rocks of crack cocaine, according to court records. A rock of crack cocaine weighing less than a gram typically sells for $30 in the Rutland area, police said.

Stewart’s reported $545 worth of damage from destruction of property and stolen items during the break-in, police said.