Police Seeking Links to Other Thefts That Could Involve Former Town Couple

Greenwich Police are continuing their investigation into a former town couple who were charged Tuesday with using the husband’s position as a private housesitter and apartment property manager to burglarize the homes he was entrusted to look after.

Public Information Officer Lt. Kraig Gray said investigators are checking with previous clients for whom Michael Orr worked including other apartment and condominum complexes and office buildings in Greenwich. “When we see that level of activity by one person, we dig deeper,” Gray said.

Michael Orr and his wife,  Elissa Temple-Orr, both 33, were arrested by Greenwich Police investigators armed with arrest warrants when the couple appeared Tuesday in state Superior Court in Stamford on drug-related and larceny charges stemming from their original arrest on Sept. 24.

Gray said that Michael Orr was under investigation in September for running a drug-selling operation from the 58 Pemberwick Road apartment the couple lived in at the time. The couple, who now list East Long Meadow, MA. as their residence, also were arrested on risk of injury to a minor charges after officers “found squalid conditions and no food in the home. The (6-year-old) child was taken into custody by the Department of Family and Youth Services,” Gray said.

Michael Orr faces charges of risk of injury to a minor, possession of narcotics, possession of drug paraphernalia, second-degree larceny and interfering with an officer from the Sept. 24 incident . Elissa Temple-Orr faces second-degree larceny, possession of drug paraphernalia and second-degree larceny from the Sept. 24 arrest.

Gray said that during the Sept. 24 arrest, officers found items that had been reported stolen from the Greenwich Shore apartment complex at 124 Ritch Ave., the complex where Michael Orr worked from January 2009 until his arrest in September. The discovery of the stolen items prompted investigators from the Greenwich Police detective and narcotics divisions to begin canvassing residents at Greenwich Shore and look into reports of larcenies during that period.

There was a total of 29 reports of burglaries and larcenies, however, investigators so far have been able to link Orr to eight burglaries.

“It’s a situation where you put something away, a month passes and then you look for that item and think ‘Maybe I misplaced it,’ “ Gray explained.

Police have recovered thousands of dollars worth of precious gold coins, jewelry including diamond, gold and pearl earrings, necklaces, rings and bracelets.

One of the thefts Michael Orr is charged with stems from the theft of “jewels” from a Stanwich Road residence where he was hired as a housesitter last March, according to Gray.

Michael Orr faces eight counts of third-degree burglary, five counts of first-degree larceny, one count of second-degree larceny, two counts of third-degree larceny and one count of fourth-degree larceny.  At his court appearance Tuesday, he did not enter pleas on any of the charges  lodged from the burglary and drug cases, according to the state of Connecticut Judicial Department website. He is being held on $500,000 bond.

Elissa Temple-Orr faces one count of first-degree larceny and one count of fourth-degree larceny. She pleaded not guilty to all charges and was released on a promise to appear in state Superior Court in Stamford.

The couple is scheduled to return to court Feb. 7.