Stephen Bakaitis offers advice to those who struggle, as he says he and his brother do, against poverty and joblessness.
“Don’t revert back to a criminal lifestyle just to make money,” he said. “Stick through it.”
DNA matches have linked Stephen P. Bakaitis, 23, and his brother, Joshua T. Bakaitis, 21, to a string of church break-ins that rattled Waynesboro earlier this year, city police said Wednesday.
After learning of the lab results, police searched Joshua Bakaitis’ Waynesboro apartment and his brother’s tent, turning up items stolen from area churches, according to court documents.
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Their story, marred by tragedy, has made its way into news pages before. The Bakaitises’ stepbrother was killed in 2007 when he was burned by a foundry wire while trying to steal copper in Radford, according to The Roanoke Times. Their father was also severely burned in the incident.
Their mother was serving a yearlong jail sentence at the time.
Work was hard to find in Radford, the brothers told The Roanoke Times, spurring a move to Waynesboro, where trouble followed.
:: Read the full story at NewsVirginian.com. Follow-up.Labels: burglary, crime, interview, The News Virginian
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