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Police: Burglary Suspect Poses As Detective After Tripping Club Alarm

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - Police have arrested a man that may have burglarized a Downtown club more than just once.

Around 2 a.m., police were called to the Allegheny HYP Club along William Penn Place, near Strawberry Way.

"There was some evidence of burglary, the window being broken in a door, the cash register being opened and emptied," said Pittsburgh Public Safety PIO Sonya Toler.

They were able to arrest a man at the scene and they say they found alarm wires at the club were cut.

Vinnie Ray Stevenson, 28, has been charged with burglary, possessing instruments of a crime, impersonating a public servant, criminal mischief and false identification to law enforcement.

After Stevenson broke in and tripped the alarm, the alarm company called. Stevenson allegedly picked up the phone and told the alarm company he was a police detective. He also told them he had one person in custody.

Police were called when Stevenson could not provide them with a badge number over the phone.

"The person was unable to provide a badge number," said Toler. "At that point, the alarm company called 911 and our officers were dispatched to the scene."

Police found Stevenson near a side door of the club. They say he gave them a fake name and the wrong age, twice. He also told police one man ran out and jumped over a nearby fence.

Jeffrey Hutton, the COO of the HYP club, says Stevenson worked for the cleaning company that serviced the facility, but they were let go in May. Hutton says this isn't the first time someone has broken into the club in recent months.

"I can't say specifically that it was him with the other break-ins, but it's the same thing," said Hutton. " We knew it had to be someone with some kind of inside knowledge, because they were very specific."

On the inside of the side door to the HYP club, officers found four cold beers, and when they searched Stevenson, they found $25. He says that was a Christmas gift to him from the HYP Club, left in a card, but the officers never found a card.

While Stevenson was being taken to the Allegheny County Jail, an officer heard something fall on the floor of the police vehicle. Police found a crowbar. It has since been turned in for processing.

Stevenson was booked into the jail.

The Allegheny HYP Club is a non-profit organization for alumni of Harvard, Yale and Princeton. The schools joined forces for the club back in 1929.

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