Cloverdale man charged in Greencastle robberies

GREENCASTLE -- Brock M. Sage, Cloverdale, has been arrested on burglary, theft and harassment charges, a news release from the Greencastle Police Department said.

This arrest was the result of a joint investigation between officers and investigators from the Greencastle Police Department and the Putnam County Sheriff's Department. This arrest closes the cases on at least nine home burglaries that have occurred in the city of Greencastle and Putnam County jurisdictions. These burglaries began in early December 2009 and have sporadically continued until Sage's arrest on Tuesday night.

Deputies were contacted by a victim who said her home had been burglarized three times over the past month. When deputies responded, the victim reported that while on her way home from work she had received an anonymous call on her cell phone. She said the call turned sexual in nature so she hung up, only to discover when she arrived home that her residence had been burglarized once again.

The deputies instructed the victim to contact her cell phone company, and they were able to trace the caller's phone and gave a general location where the phone was being used.

Deputies converged on the area and located a 2000 Lincoln being operated by Brock Sage. Sage had earlier been a person of interest in this burglary investigation.

During the traffic stop, the traced phone was found to be in Sage's possession, and it was further learned that he was actually using a phone that he had previously stolen. Sage was arrested and his vehicle was impounded for further investigation.

At this point, Detectives Mike Biggs and Randy Seipel were able to obtain a search warrant for Sage's vehicle. Detectives recovered several items from not only the reported burglary, but also from two Greencastle burglaries that had yet to be reported.

Several victims had been burglarized more than once, and some had suffered sexually harassing phone calls from the suspect. They had also received text messages and explicit photographs.

Items recovered during the search of Sage's vehicle included jewelry, electronics, Wii games and articles of personal clothing. Investigators also discovered a bag that contained a set of bolt cutters, ski mask, flashlight, and bandana.

Also located in Sage's vehicle was an opened package of latex gloves.

Seipel interviewed Sage, and said Sage implicated himself in nine burglaries. Sage admitted to stealing various types of articles.

He also admitted to Seipel that he had made numerous phone calls to some of the victims and their friends both before and after some of the burglaries.

"The efforts of Deputies Josh Boller, Virgil Lanning, Craig Sibbitt, Dwight Simmons, and Mike Downing were instrumental in bringing this case to a conclusion," GPD Chief Tom Sutherlin said.

Sage was arraigned at the Putnam County Courthouse and is currently being held on $50,000 bond.

Anyone with any further information regarding this investigation is asked to contact Biggs with the Putnam County Sheriff's Department or Seipel with the Greencastle Police Department.