COLUMBUS: Police say a man arrested after an unoccupied Columbus house was broken into is a suspect in 18 robberies that may have been committed to feed a heroin addiction.
Police also say the man is not a suspect in the shooting death of a night clerk in a suburban Dublin gas station earlier this month in a rare violent crime in that community.
The Columbus Dispatch reports Tuesday that Christopher Blaho told investigators he’d grown fearful he might be shot during a robbery and so chose an unoccupied dwelling.
A Columbus police SWAT team arrested Blaho Saturday night following a surveillance operation.
The 26-year-old Blaho was being held in Franklin County Jail where records did not list an attorney..
