Glenville father helps catch alleged burglars

Posted at: 08/17/2012 5:58 PM | Updated at: 08/18/2012 3:32 AM
By: Beth Wurtmann

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GLENVILLE - A normally peaceful neighborhood turned into a suspenseful chase scene Thursday night, when Josh Hughes drove up his street and spotted two men driving his kids bikes right out of the driveway.

"I was just like, those two guys are on my bikes and they shouldn't be on my bikes and I can't have that. My instinct was to chase after them and get them off the bikes," Hughes said.

Hughes, a Monhonasen math teacher, sait it was just before 10 PM when the alleged burglars must have found his wife's car unlocked. He suspects they simply clicking the garage door opener to get inside, going straight for two bikes and an electric scooter.

"Oddly enough I identified the one young man by his underwear. Because his pans were so low, when he was running away all I saw were his yellow boxers as he ran away. I said 'Yep, that's him, fanny man," Hughes said.

After chasing the suspects up this street and back, they took off between those two houses. That's when Josh decided it was time to call the police.

"He immediately called 911 and stayed on the phone with our dispatchers, and called out where the suspects were running to and the direction they were going," said Detective William Marchewka, of the Glenville Police Department.

23-year-old Terrance Conley and 22-year-old Ayyub Lewis, both of Schenectady. now face burglary and other charges, after police said they recovered iPods, GPS units, credit cards and other loot stolen from other homes the same night.

Now Hughes' kids are thrilled to have their bikes back, saying Dad acted fast and kept his cool.

"It was, like, scary at first, but at the end I was happy because they got caught," said Myah Hughes, age 13.

The Hughes family said this experience is making them more vigilant about keeping any valuables out of vehicles, and keeping their home and cars locked to discourage thieves.