VIPD: Homeless Man Arrested On St. Thomas For Stealing Tools From Business

John McCarthyPosted oninAt VIFreep, Breaking News, Crime News, Police News, St. Thomas News

CHARLOTTE AMALIE — A homeless man was arrested by police on St. Thomas after he allegedly stole tools from a business, authorities said.

Criminal Investigation Bureau detectives arrested Ryan Kendal Baskin, 29 of no fixed address about 2 p.m. on Friday and charged him with third-degree burglary, the Virgin Islands Police Department said.

Baskin was observed on surveillance video and positively identified as one of the people who “removed several tools from a business,” according to the VIPD spokesman Toby Derima.

Bail for Baskin was set at $25,000. Unable to post bail, he was remanded to the custody of the Virgin Islands Bureau of Corrections pending an advice-of-rights hearing.

This case is currently under active investigation by the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB).

Anyone with any information regarding this crime is urged to contact 911, the Criminal Investigation Bureau at (340) 774-2211 ext. 5579 or Crime Stoppers USVI at 1 (800) 222-8477.

John McCarthy

John F. McCarthy is a veteran journalist in the Caribbean, writing from the "Decision Space" where survival meets the surreal. His reporting steel was tempered by a lineage of legendary editors and broadcasters, including Ed Wynn Brant (The Bomb), Owen Eschenroder (Ann Arbor News), Lynelle Emanuel (BVI Beacon), and Charles Thanas (WSVI-TV). Alongside longtime colleague Kenneth C. "Casey" Clark, McCarthy has navigated the front lines of the territory’s history—from the 1997 volcanic "snow" to every major hurricane since Hugo. Known for leaning out of doorless helicopters to capture the "money shot," McCarthy now edits the V.I. Free Press, providing the essential link between the island's colonial past and its SpaceX future.