BUTLER TWP — A suspected serial burglar's tally now stands at 11 homes and more than $10,000 in stolen property.

Andrew Leroy Perry, 27, of Prospect has confessed to the rash of break-ins that plagued the township last fall, township police said.

Perry apparently targeted homes that he knew were unoccupied and that were easy to get into, using unlocked windows or doors, according to court documents.

He also seemed primarily interested in jewelry and money, investigators said, taking anything worth anything that could be stuffed into a back pack.

There was one other characteristic that stood out.

"He was a neat burglar," said Detective Dave Fish, the investigating officer. "People didn't know he was in their house."

Perry got what he could get, police said, and he got out. He left things as tidy as he found them.

"He had an addiction problem," Fish said of the motive for the crime spree. He declined to elaborate.

The detective on Wednesday filed eight more burglary cases against Perry. Police previously charged him with three break-ins.

Meanwhile, state police want to talk to Perry about other unsolved burglaries in the county, authorities said.

He's been in the Butler County Prison since Nov. 24 when he was jailed for a probation violation.

Police accused him in the cases filed this week of burglarizing eight homes in October and November.

Some of the homeowners in little time discovered missing property and suspected they had been burglarized, but for others, it took a while so police in some cases have a relatively wide time frame for the crimes.

For example, documents said, police believe Perry between Oct. 1 and Nov. 24 struck these homes:

n 203 Grandview Blvd., where currency and a clay pot worth a combined $265 were taken.

n 258 Grandview Blvd., where $1,960 in jewelry and currency was stolen.

n 9 Evergreen Ave., where $285 in currency was taken.

n 562 Kohler Ave., where $115 in currency was stolen.

The other cases filed this week are for residential burglaries on Oct. 31 at 1025 E. Brady St., where jewelry and currency worth $640 were stolen, and on Nov. 13 at 135 Freeport Road, where $3,450 in jewelry and a DVD player was taken.

Additionally, police Wednesday charged Perry with the Nov. 17 break-ins at 233 E. McQuistion Road, where money and a knife valued at a combined $124 were taken, and at 195 Crisswell Road, where $2,030 in jewelry and currency was stolen.

Police in December charged Perry with these burglaries:

n 204 E. McQuistion Road on Nov. 24; he allegedly stole more than $1,600 in jewelry and other items

n 200 E. McQuistion Road on Nov. 23; he allegedly took $200 in coins.

n 951 N. McKean St. on Nov. 7; he allegedly stole a gold class ring worth $250.

Those cases as well as a felony drug case are pending for Perry in county court, records showed.

He also is facing a misdemeanor drug case in Allegheny County Court.

During the Butler Township police investigation, it didn't take long for detectives to start connecting the crimes because of their similarities, including the time and locations of the burglaries and the kinds of items taken.

They also suspected one person was likely behind the break-ins, believing the burglar was going up to homes under the guise of someone who found a business card or collectible coin and trying to locate the owner.

If someone answered his knock, he moved on to a house that was not occupied. Police said he'd then look for a quick way in and out.

He was good at what he did, investigators acknowledged, at least for a while.

Perry hocked the stolen gems at area jewelry stores or pawn shops.

"It was sold as scrap gold," Fish said.

Only a small portion of the nearly $11,000 in stolen property has been recovered.

Perry, whose criminal record includes convictions for conspiracy to commit robbery, theft and drug possession between 2002 and 2006, is in the county prison on $100,000 bail.