Saugus man gets up to seven years for stealing GPS

SALEM – A Saugus man was sentenced to five to seven years in prison this week for allegedly breaking into a car unaware that two Danvers police officers were watching him.James Racca, 49, pleaded guilty to breaking and entering and larceny in Salem Superior Court.Racca had been indicted on charges of being a common and notorious thief, but those charges were dropped after the guilty plea.According to Essex County District Attorney spokesman Steve O’Connell, Judge David Lowy sentenced Racca to five to seven years on the burglary charge and another four to five years for larceny, to be served concurrently with the burglary sentence.On Jan. 12, 2007, two undercover officers allegedly watched Racca smash a car window outside Costco’s on Route 1 and steal a GPS unit and a jacket as a female accomplice waited in a nearby car.Police later searched their Peabody motel room and found another GPS unit believed to have been stolen from the Costco’s lot at an earlier time, prosecutors said. However, the judge suppressed that evidence because he said the search warrant was granted on insufficient facts.