CALEDONIA, NY — The Caledonia Police Department has made an arrest in the Jan 24 burglary at Big Springs Museum in which several rare Civil War and World War II war items were stolen from the second floor display cases.

Caledonia pvillage olice have identified the suspect as Roy Ortiz, but have not released his age or hometown. Ortiz stands charged with grand larceny after he allegedly sold some of the items missing from the museum at an area pawn shop, reports Daniel Chapman, officer in charge.

According to museum workers, a man entered the museum during regular hours and distracted the docent with a photograph, asking her if she recognized the dog in the photo, that it was lost and belonged to his daughter. He proceeded to the second floor where he stayed for about a half an hour, the docent recalled.

Two days later museum workers found that the locks had been broken off of some of the display cases and several items were missing, including a Civil War medicine kit worth $5,000, a Nazi helmet and WWII daggers. They called police and the investigation got underway.

Caledonia police worked with several law enforcement agencies to follow up on lead, including the Livingston County Sheriff’s Department, state troopers and village police from Mt Morris, Dansville, Warsaw, and Penn Yan.

The investigation identified Ortiz and his brother Michael as suspects early on and with that information, police kept the investigation close and quiet as they had reason to believe the suspects had committed similar crimes at other museums and may be planning to return to the Big Springs Museum for more items.

Michael Ortiz is wanted on a warrant for grand larceny by Warsaw and West Seneca police departments. Caledonia Officers Ryan Sherman and Travis Gray met with the NYSP Major Crimes Unit in Rochester to exchange information before questioning Roy Ortiz, that led to his arrest.

Chapman said both brothers are suspected of similar crimes at other area museums.