A parolee who burglarized an Ossining home last year in a distinctive two-tone jacket he was still wearing a short time later when police arrested him with some of the proceeds was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison.
Westchester Judge Robert Prisco imposed the prison term requested by prosecutors for Lorenzo Chambers on Tuesday, May 12, after calling the evidence against him “overwhelming” and rejecting Chambers’ continued insistence that police got the wrong man.
He said that Chambers’ has repeatedly violated the right of people to feel secure in their homes, entering unlawfully to steal from them even though they might be home.
What happened on Feb. 12, 2025?
On the evening of Feb. 12, 2025, Chambers climbed through a living-room window of a home on South Highland Avenue and made his way to a second-floor bedroom, where he stole several items, including a silver bracelet, a silver necklace, sunglasses and a glass jar with coins.
He was initially confronted on the street by a resident of the house who had watched surveillance video of the burglary on his phone. He then fled from police officers up a snowy embankment where he was taken into custody after dumping a backpack he was carrying. He still had a distinctive pillowcase that matched linen from the bedroom in the house.
Chambers testified at both the grand jury and his trial, acknowledging that he had been at the property and noticed a man climbing out of the window so he decided to “self-investigate”. He insisted that the items he was found with were his, including the glass jar that had the name of one of the residents engraved on it. He claimed the engraving was done after police seized the jar.
A ‘profound impact’
In a victim impact statement read in court by Assistant District Attorney Marissa Mora-Wynn, the owner of the home said she was there with her son during the burglary, which had a “profound impact” on her family and the neighborhood. She said her family is in a “constant state of fear and insecurity.”
“We no longer feel at peace in our home,” she wrote.
Mora-Wynn called the burglary a “brazen act”, because Chambers spent about 10 minutes in the house even though some of the residents were there.
She said Chambers took more than just physical possessions.
“He stole (their) sense of security,” she said.
What was the minimum sentence Chambers faced?
The minimum sentence Chambers faced was 16 years to life and his lawyer asked for a term of 18 to life, citing her client’s difficult upbringing.
Chambers told the judge there were “so many holes in the case” and that he was essentially only trespassing that night. He questioned why someone else’s name would be put on his glass cup.
“If I’m the person who did this crime don’t you think I would have changed my clothes?” he said.
Chambers had two prior theft convictions in Brooklyn, a burglary and a robbery, that made him a persistent violent felon and eligible for a life sentence. He otherwise would have faced only a maximum of 15 years in prison in the Westchester case.
He had served a 10-year prison term for the robbery and was paroled just 13 months before the Ossining burglary.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Prior theft convictions mean life term for Ossining burglar
Reporting by Jonathan Bandler, Rockland/Westchester Journal News / Rockland/Westchester Journal News
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