MIDDLETOWN - When Officer Jorge Yepes saw Daniel Damotta leaving an apartment through a cut window screen in February, Damotta might as well have been carrying Pandora's box.

Since that arrest, police have been able to tie him to 27 burglaries — during which more than $86,000 worth of stuff was stolen, they said.

Damotta, 20, of Middletown now faces an additional 23 counts of third-degree burglary and other charges, police stated in a press release Friday. He was arrested Tuesday and charged with two counts of first-degree larceny, three counts of second-degree larceny and 13 counts of third-degree larceny, police said.

He also was charged with two counts of fourth-degree larceny, two counts of sixth-degree larceny and 16 counts of third-degree criminal mischief, they said.

The burglaries started more than a year ago and continued until February of this year, according to judicial branch documents. Damotta is scheduled to appear in Superior Court in Middletown Dec. 3.

The break-ins stopped after Yepes saw Damotta walking through the Chestnut Hill apartment complex in the city's Westlake section Feb. 26, police said. He saw Damotta leave a first-floor apartment through a window and arrested him.

Investigators then connected Damotta to other, similar break-ins. The burglaries usually happened during the day when no one was home, police said. He usually got in through a first-floor door or window, they said, and took items including laptop computers, jewelry, electronics, game systems and cash.