Police call Gerald Broadwater an "office creeper."
GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga -- He's been called "The Laptop Burglar" or "Office Creeper". He has been wanted by four different law enforcement agencies in the Atlanta area since 2009. Yet, he has eluded capture and continued his illicit career out of state.
Gerald Broadwater, who was featured on 11 Alive News in May 2010, has been traveling up the east coast doing the same thing he did here, stealing laptops. Police say he creeps into office complexes, sometimes when they are open, and steals computers. If he's confronted he says he's either with a temp service or he's a custodian or maintenance worker.
Broadwater was identified in 2009 by Sandy Springs Police who were investigating him in connection with office break ins. Corporal Jake Smith, the Public Information Officer for Gwinnett County Police, remembers him well. He worked burglaries back in 2009 and Broadwater was his case. "He'll probably continue to do this until he's caught," Cpl. Smith said. "I don't think he has a reason to stop, he's gotten away with it for years and he'll most likely continue until he is caught."
And he has. This past January Broadwater was accused of stealing laptops from 10 office buildings in Upper Dublin, Pennsylvania. Investigators there connected him to the Atlanta burglaries from surveillance video. "The very last thing I heard when I put the case aside was that he had family connections in Pennsylvania," Cpl. Smith said.
Photo Gallery: Office creeper burglaries
After one of the burglaries in Pennsylvania, police stopped Broadwater in his white Lexus with a Georgia tag. Upper Dublin police said Broadwater gave the officer who stopped him a fake ID and then sped off. A couple hours later he was seen chatting with a hotel clerk near the office complex that was burglarized. Before police could get to the hotel they said he slipped out a basement exit. "He knew where he was going," said Upper Dublin Police Detective Michael Gommer. "He knew how to get out of the building."
For more information on the Philadelphia case read the story from our NBC affiliate.
Broadwater is wanted in Sandy Springs, College Park, Cobb County and Gwinnett County. Besides Georgia, he is also wanted in North Carolina, Ohio, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
Cpl. Smith believes Broadwater is making a living out of stealing laptops. "If he has a good way to move these computers, if he's got someone that he's supplying, then he very well could be making a living doing this," he said.
Cpl. Smith also thinks there are probably more burglaries he's committed that haven't yet been connected to him either because they didn't have surveillance video or don't know about his work.
Anyone who knows anything about Gerald Broadwater is asked to call any of the law enforcement agencies looking for him, or call Crime Stoppers Atlanta at 404-577-TIPS(8477).