Alan Golder

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Alan William Golder, also known as the "Dinnertime Bandit", is an American burglar who specialized in stealing jewelry from mansions, while their owners were inside their residences eating dinner. Between 1976 and 1980, Golder allegedly stole an estimated $25 million dollars worth of jewels and cash. Golder was arrested in 1980, and pleaded guilty as an accessory to the 1978 murder of millionaire Lawrence Lever, who was shot during a robbery gone awry.

Golder was paroled in 1996, but returned to burglary according to police. It is estimated that between 1996 and 2001, Golder stole approximately $5 million in jewelry and cash from homes and estates in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania. He is also believed to have struck in Preston Hollow, an affluent suburb of Dallas, Texas in early 1998, when Republican fundraiser Harold Simmons had 100 pieces of jewelry worth $960,000 stolen from his mansion, which was guarded by an alarm system, dogs, and an armed guard. A rash of burglaries in affluent Greenwich, Connecticut in 1996 and 1997 is attributed to him. He was arrested in Antwerp, Belgium on December 14, 2006, by Belgian Federal Police. During his time in jail in Antwerp, Belgian authorities stated that they would not be charging Alan Golder with any crimes.

On November 21, 2007, after nine years on the run in Europe, Alan Golder was escorted from Antwerp Prison to Brussels, where he was formally taken into custody by a Greenwich Connecticut Detective and two U.S. Marshals. He was flown from Brussels to New York City's JFK Airport, and then taken to Greenwich, CT where he was charged with 38 felony counts and one misdemeanor, including burglary, larceny, robbery and kidnapping.^[1] On November 23, 2007 Golder was arraigned in Stamford Superior Court in Connecticut. Alan Golder plead not guilty in court on December 11 in Stamford, Connecticut. Alan's attorney, Howard Ehring stated that Alan did not "live the life of a wealthy man while in Europe".^{[cite this quote]} Mr Golder has tried to blame his half-brother(s) for the crimes.^{[citation needed]} His next scheduled court appearance, according to Connecticut State Judicial services website, is on May 5, 2008.