SHANDAKEN – A 65-year-old Kingston man is in the Ulster County Jail after he broke into a house on Creek Side Drive in the Town of Shandaken around 9:45 Sunday night.
Town Police were initially told that a bear might be in the residence, but later received information that there was no animal inside, but rather that a man had broken into the home and was walking around inside.
Officers located the man, identified as Thomas Sims of Kingston, armed with a gun on the second floor. He refused commands from officers and barricaded himself in a room refusing to come out.
Shandaken Police requested the assistance of the Ulster County Emergency Response Team and the county crisis negotiator team.
He was later taken into custody by members of the emergency response team and was turned over to Shandaken Police.
A search of the residence resulted in the recovery of three rifles.
Sims was charged with burglary, criminal mischief, menacing a police officer, all as felonies, and misdemeanors of criminal possession of stolen property, petit larceny and resisting arrest.
Sims was arraigned and remanded in lieu of $250,000 cash bail or $500,000 secured bond.
Shandaken Police ask anyone who may have additional information about this incident or Sims to call them at 845-688-9902.
Local police were assisted by the Ulster County Sheriff’s Office, State Police, Big Indian Fire Department, Shandaken Ambulance, Mobile Life Support services, Ulster County Emergency Management, and the State Police Special Operations Response Team.
