Surveillance video and a chance encounter with a man sleeping in a stairwell at the Kachemak Center led to the arrest of that man, Patrick B. Jensen, 29, of Cordova, on charges of second-degree burglary and second-degree theft, both felonies. 

Homer Police allege Jensen broke into Homer Electric Association offices on Lake Street early on Aug. 5 and stole laptop computers, cell phones, food and other items valued at $1,800.

HEA staff reported the burglary at about 8 a.m. last Wednesday. Video provided by HEA showed images of a man carrying a black backpack and wearing a grey hooded sweat shirt, Homer Police Sgt. Lary Kuhns wrote in a criminal complaint. 

Coincidently, at about 6:45 a.m. the morning of the reported burglary, police went to a report that a man slept in the stairwell at Kachemak Center on Pioneer Avenue and Lake Street, a short walk from HEA. Police indentified the man as Jensen. 

Kuhns later showed the HEA images of the robber to the person who had reported Jensen sleeping in the stairwell, and that person positively identified the man in the HEA images as the same man seen in the stairwell.

HPD Officer Larry Baxter told Kuhns he had contacted Jensen on Aug. 4 on a path between Greatland Street and Pioneer Avenue known as the Greatland Trail. Police went to the area and found and arrested Jensen. 

Jensen wore similar clothing as seen in the HEA video, Kuhns wrote. Police also found a black backpack that by feel had rectangular item in it. 

Police applied for and served a search warrant on the pack. Homer Police Chief Mark Robl said the item recovered was not stolen from HEA but is suspected to have been taken from another location. An investigation into that case continues, Robl said. All the items taken from HEA were recovered.

Michael Armstrong can be reached at michael.armstrong@homernews.com.