Putnam County Sheriff Donald B. Smith reports that a woman from Brewster has been arrested for burglarizing a home in Garrison. The suspect turned herself in to the Sheriff’s Office just one day after the crime, after her image was captured on a video surveillance system at the home and was posted on the internet.

Ms. Berit O. Okay, aged 52, of Brewster, New York, is charged with burglarizing a residence on Avery Road in Philipstown on the evening of Thursday, June 9th, when she allegedly entered the home through an unlocked door and stole six rings and an I-Pad device from an upstairs bedroom. The homeowner was out of town at the time, but he discovered the crime only a few hours later, when he wirelessly checked a home video surveillance system that was installed in the house to monitor his pet dogs. When he reviewed the video, he saw footage of the woman in the home.

The homeowner called the Sheriff’s Office to report the crime. While investigators were working the case, the homeowner sent a still image of the suspect to contacts on the internet. A contact in Brewster saw the photo and recognized the pictured suspect as Ms. Okay. That person confronted Ms. Okay about her alleged misdeed and prompted her to turn herself in at the Sheriff’s Office. She turned herself in and returned the stolen jewelry and electronics to investigators on Friday morning, June 10th.

Ms. Okay is charged with burglary in the second degree, a class C felony, and criminal possession of stolen property in the fourth degree, a class E felony. She was arraigned before Putnam Valley Town Justice Louis DiCarlo, sitting on behalf of the Philipstown Justice Court, and was remanded to the Putnam County Correctional Facility in lieu of $20,000.00 cash bail or bail bond. She is scheduled to appear in the Philipstown Justice Court on July 13th to answer the charges.

Ms. Okay remains held in the jail as of the time of this News Release.