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Bend's most prolific burglar?

Up to 20 police detectives spent weeks on the trail of the ‘hyper vigilant’ John Joseph Todd Falconer

By Cindy Powers / The Bulletin

Published: February 23. 2008 4:00AM PST

Once John Joseph Todd Falconer got into a house he would steal just about anything that wasn’t nailed down.

“He did one model home where he took everything,” said Detective John Lawrence of the Bend Police Department. “Pictures off the walls, candles rugs, sofas, appliances, everything. And he traded it all to some drug dealer in Culver.”

It was just one of a string of Central Oregon burglaries that Falconer, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison Friday, has admitted committing.

At one point, Bend Police had two 10-by-25-foot storage spaces filled with the fruits of Falconer’s most recent crimes. The loot included everything from major appliances to specialized mountain climbing equipment.

“This is the most prolific burglar that I’ve ever seen by far,” said Lawrence, who has been a police officer for eight years.

And Falconer, 38, has already served prison time for burglaries, thefts and assaults that date back to 2002.

Earlier this month, he pleaded guilty to 13 counts of burglary, 11 counts of theft, 3 counts of possession of burglary tools, as well as one count each of possession of methamphetamine and felon in possession of a weapon.

At his sentencing hearing Friday, Lawrence told Deschutes County Circuit Court Judge Michael Sullivan that police have identified more than 30 victims, but still haven’t been able to return all the stolen property.

“We have a lot of property that hasn’t been matched up or identified with a victim yet,” Lawrence said.

Investigators were tipped off last fall by one victim who heard Falconer might have been involved in burglarizing his home, Lawrence said.

So they started tailing Falconer and worked for a few weeks to get a tracking device attached to his truck.

“This guy was hyper vigilant; he had surveillance cameras on the front of his house,” Lawrence said.

Once the tracking devices were in place, investigators watched Falconer cruise neighborhoods, park his pickup and walk around, peeking into houses.

He favored areas of new construction, Lawrence said, and even readied homes for his burglaries.

Falconer tracked the progress of construction and figured out appliance delivery schedules, Lawrence said.

“Lots of times, when a house was finished being built, they would leave the side garage door open for deliveries,” he said.

So Falconer went in and disconnected garage door pull chains so he could open those doors later. Falconer also unscrewed exterior light bulbs, allowing him to move in unseen at night.

“When he would come back then he could open the (garage) door and back his truck right in,” Lawrence said.

Falconer also stole from construction trailers, occupied homes and parked cars.

Witnesses have told police that Falconer would steal for others after taking orders for appliances or tools they wanted, Lawrence said. Criminal cases against the buyers are ongoing, so Lawrence could not discuss them.

“If he wanted something from a house, I guarantee you he’d get it,” he said.

And he was out all the time, Lawrence said. So police spent a lot of man hours trailing him.

The 252 hours of overtime Bend Police dedicated to following him added up to more than $13,000 in additional pay, Lawrence said.

“At times, there were up to 20 detectives on this case,” he said.

Some of the burglaries were outside of the Bend area, so the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office and its street crimes team joined in to help nab Falconer.

At Friday’s hearing, Deschutes County Deputy District Attorney Mary Anderson reminded Judge Sullivan that Falconer had been before him for sentencing in the past.

“He committed so many crimes that he was facing 130 months,” Anderson said.

But Falconer cooperated with police and helped them clear up a number of crimes, she said.

“He indicated that he wanted to get off meth and help people get their property back, and he was given a break,” Anderson said.

He was sentenced to a year and seven months in prison in June 2004 and was released from Powder River Correctional Facility in Baker City on Dec. 15, 2005.

Falconer’s lawyer, Brendon Alexander, said his client’s decision to go back to committing crimes was “probably the greatest relapse I’ve ever seen.”

Falconer has a 4-month-old baby and is motivated to get his life back on track, Alexander said.

Falconer stood and apologized for the burglaries and thefts, but Sullivan said it meant little to him.

“I’ll just cut to the chase sir, I don’t believe a word you are saying,” Sullivan said. “I appreciate your attorney trying to put the best spin on this, but as far as I’m concerned you’re just a con.”

Cindy Powers can be reached at 617-7812 or cpowers@bendbulletin.com.

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