City man gets 20 years for burglaries of homes

Saturday, March 3, 2007
By RENEE WINKLER Courier-Post Staff CAMDEN

A Camden man once described by a Pennsylvania district attorney as the superstar of burglars was sentenced Friday to 20 years in state prison.

Patrick Burns, who pleaded guilty to 18 burglaries of upscale homes in Cherry Hill, Haddonfield, Voorhees and Moorestown, must complete 10 years of the term before applying for parole under the sentence of Superior Court Presiding Criminal Judge Thomas A. Brown Jr.

Brown left open until May 4 the issue of restitution for uninsured losses to the victims, who included professional athletes.

Victims reported thousands of dollars in cash and jewelry were stolen from their homes.

Burns, 47, identified in court records as a resident of Line Street, had been indicted on 86 burglary counts and pleaded guilty to about 20 percent of them under an agreement between Assistant Camden County Prosecutor Robert Luther and defense attorney Jill Cohen.

Luther said Burns' half-brother, Elijah Brown, 54, of Winslow, who reportedly drove Burns to the burglary locations, is awaiting sentencing.

Cohen said Burns was "in and out of the homes in five minutes. He never hurt anyone. No one ever saw him. Most of the time no one was home."

Burns previously served a seven-year term in a Virginia state prison. He was paroled in February 2004, shortly before the South Jersey burglaries began.

Reach Renee Winkler at rwinkler@courierpostonline.com