BUTLER TWP — Easy pickings.

That's how alleged serial break-in suspect Michael W. Roman — accused of dozens of crimes — sized up his targets.

And victims' carelessness or indifference was the secret to his success.

“He told me, 'How could they leave their cars unlocked?'” Butler Township police Detective Max Wittlinger said Friday. “He said, 'How could they leave guns in their cars?”

Wittlinger interviewed Roman at length before he subsequently charged the suspect Thursday with stealing property from vehicles at 40 separate addresses in the township.

That alleged crime spree occurred between Sept. 24 and Dec. 5, 2018.

State police, however, also are expected to charge Roman with committing similar crimes in other townships.

He has been in the Butler County Prison since Dec. 9 when Butler police arrested him and another man on charges that they broke into two vehicles in the city.

It apparently did not take long for township police and state police to eye Roman as a possible suspect in many other vehicle break-ins.

Wittlinger charged him with one felony count each of theft and receiving stolen property, 39 misdemeanor counts of theft from a vehicle and two misdemeanor counts of receiving stolen property. Officials said he is to be arraigned Monday.

“He said he was mainly looking for money or things he could easily sell,” Wittlinger said in recounting what Roman told him.

He typically struck late in the evening, police believe, under the cover of night. His alleged criminal excursions would last hours.

“He said he picked areas overnight,” Wittlinger recalled. “He said he'd hit that area and come back.”

At the time, the defendant, who was homeless for a while, was staying wherever he could in the city.

“He said he'd check the door handles (of vehicles),” Wittlinger said. Locked vehicles were bypassed. Unlocked doors offered an easy opportunity that he couldn't pass up.

Wittlinger interviewed Roman within the past month. He described the suspect as “extremely cooperative.” He claimed he acted alone in the suspected thefts in the township.

In all, the stolen property was valued at a little more than $5,000. A .380-caliber Glock pistol was among one of the items taken. It was the only gun he took in the township.

“But he's admitted to being in other areas where guns were taken,” Wittlinger said.

State police previously disclosed that a number of guns were taken in vehicle break-ins that occurred last summer and fall in the county. They were unavailable for comment Friday.

Roman is not the only suspect in the vehicle break-ins that plagued Butler Township over the same time frame in 2018.

This week, police charged Joshua J. Space, 26, of Butler Township with breaking into two vehicles and stealing two guns in September.

Space was already in the county prison on a probation violation when he was arraigned Thursday on two felony counts of theft by unlawful taking, one felony count of receiving stolen property and two misdemeanor counts of theft from a vehicle. Bail in each case was set at $15,000.

It is not known if additional cases could be filed against the defendant, but state police say they are talking with township police to determine his whereabouts at the time of similar thefts in the county that remain under investigation.

Troopers were investigating reported vehicle break-ins and burglaries Sept. 3 when they picked up Space for questioning, according to court documents.

He acknowledged “ransacking vehicles and going on a binge since the beginning of July,” Butler Township police Detective Sgt. David Fish said in an affidavit filed with charges.

He allegedly targeted vehicles and garages in the township's Meridian section and in neighboring Connoquenessing Township.

Space, court documents said, eventually admitted he stole a Springfield Armory 9 mm pistol from a vehicle at a Lawrence Avenue home on or about Sept. 3.

He also allegedly acknowledged taking a .357-caliber revolver from a pickup truck at a home on 40th Street between late August and early September.

Space told police that “he sold the guns to a male that paid him cash, so he could (buy) drugs,” the affidavit said.

He claimed that he was unclear of the dates and times of the suspected thefts because at the time he was impaired on alcohol and “benzos,” a type of prescription sedative.

On Wednesday, township police charged Jeffrey B. Taylor, 39, of Butler Township with last fall's vehicle break-in at a home on Marion Drive. Police said that in late October he stole a purse with $259 and a debit card that was in the truck.

He allegedly used the card Oct. 28 and 29 to withdraw money and purchase items worth a combined $840.93, court documents said. Taylor was arraigned on felony charges of access device fraud and identity theft and misdemeanor charges of theft from a vehicle and access device fraud.