Christmas Eve burglar tackled, restrained by residents

BOSTON, December 28, 2022 — Residents of a Dorchester home tackled a man they found rummaging through their kitchen on Christmas Eve and restrained him until police arrived and took him into custody, District Attorney Kevin Hayden announced.

OLIVE SAMPEUR, 25, of Brooklyn, NY was charged in Dorchester BMC Tuesday with unarmed burglary, larceny from a building, larceny over $1,200, larceny of a motor vehicle and receiving stolen property.  Judge Erika Reis released Sampeur, who has no criminal record, on personal recognizance and ordered him to stay away from the crime address and to have no contact with the victims.  Sampeur will return to court March 24 for a pre-trial hearing.

Shortly before 10 p.m. on December 24 Boston police responded to a call for a breaking and entering in process at Radford Lane in Dorchester.  Upon arrival officers found residents of the address holding Sampeur down.  They told officers they saw Sampeur inside the home rummaging through drawers in the kitchen.  The residents chased after Sampeur when he attempted to flee and tackled him to the ground.

When officers arrested Sampeur they found keys to a Jeep, parked nearby, in his pocket. Officers soon determined that the Jeep had been reported stolen.  Sampeur told officers he had been driving the Jeep for “a little bit.”  The owner of the vehicle informed police that some of her property was missing, including workbooks, a laptop and Apple Airpods.  Additionally, a resident of the address told police that money was missing from his room.  Police recovered $1,152 from Sampeur during booking.

“This was certainly an eventful Christmas Eve for these folks, and an early Christmas surprise for the person who had her vehicle returned, despite the loss of some of her property.  Spending Christmas weekend in police custody couldn’t have been pleasant for the defendant, but the blame rests with him,” Hayden said.

James Borghesani, Chief of Communications