Burglar gets life

Pauline Bell

Tuesday, May 20, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

District Judge Nancy Becker threw the book at serial sneak thief Ron Buckner, giving the 36-year-old defendant a sentence that won't make him eligible to apply for parole until he's 57.

As part of a plea bargain, Buckner previously pleaded guilty to nine felony counts of burglary and grand larceny that alone carried the possibility of 90 years in prison.

But at the request of Deputy District Attorney David Roger, Becker last week declared Buckner an habitual criminal, which changed the possible sentencing range from one to 10 years per count to five to 20 years per count.

Roger said Buckner's criminal history goes back 17 years and includes 17 prior convictions for hotel room burglaries.

During sentencing Monday, Becker gave the career criminal 7 to 17.5 years on seven burglary convictions and ran the terms concurrently. She then gave him like sentences on two grand larceny charges and ran the sentences consecutively.

In entering his guilty plea last year, Buckner admitted to slipping into hotel rooms and hiding until the occupants returned and went to sleep -- leaving their valuables strewn on dressers or tables. Eventually, Buckner would emerge from hiding, scoop up the booty and walk out of the room without waking the tourists.

Police indicated Buckner was never violent, even on those rare occasions when he was discovered.

His hiding places during the string of thefts between Aug. 11 and Nov. 1, 1995, included closets, bathtubs or under a table with a floor-length cover -- allowing a view through the fabric of the private events of the vacationers.

The hotels included The Mirage, Caesars Palace, the Rio, the MGM Grand and the Tropicana.

A string of thefts, police say, garnered nearly a quarter of a million dollars for the specialist who used a simple screwdriver to break into the rooms.

Buckner, who already has spent years behind bars for burglary and theft convictions in Philadelphia and Atlantic City, says cocaine was responsible for his criminal activities. But authorities suspect that a gambling addiction may have been his real problem.