BOSTON, Feb. 11, 2014—A would-be burglar arrested wearing a sleep mask is charged with breaking and entering and other offenses for allegedly breaking into a dollar store to steal candies, cell phones, and mustache trimmers, District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said today.

DAVID WILLIAMS (D.O.B. 10/5/63), who lists a Boston homeless shelter as his address, was arraigned Friday on charges of breaking and entering a building during the night with intent to commit a felony, larceny over $250, and malicious destruction of property over $250.

Assistant District Attorney William Champlin IV requested that Williams’ bail be set at $10,000 and that he be ordered to stay away from South Boston in the event he is released on bail. Judge Michael Bolden set bail in the amount of $1,000 and declined to impose the requested condition of release.

Champlin told the court that Boston Police officers responded to an alarm at the Family Dollar Store on West Broadway Street at 4:00 a.m. Friday.  Upon their arrival, officers spotted Williams exiting the store through a half open metal grate.  Williams was wearing a sleeping mask over most of his face, surgical gloves, and had the hood of his jacket pulled up, prosecutors said.

Officers discovered that the store’s front door was smashed.  In front of the store they found a black trash bag containing four TracFones, three mustache trimmers, a Boom Cube speaker, and several bags of M&M’s.

Inside the store, officers found evidence suggesting that the items inside the trash bag had been stolen from the store.  Discarded on the sales floor were several bags of M&M’s and a plastic security case that prosecutors believe previously held the recovered cell phones.  A locked case behind the register was open and in disarry, and some of its contents – mustache trimmers matching those found in the bag of stolen merchandise – had fallen to the floor.

At the time of his arrest, Williams was on probation following his release from prison in March for 2010 convictions for armed robbery and uttering in Middlesex County.  He began serving five years of probation for the uttering offense at the conclusion of his four-year prison sentence for the armed robbery.

Williams is represented by attorney Robert Menton.  He will return to court on March 6.

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All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.