New Bedford Burglar Sentenced to Prison Time

NEW BEDFORD — A 49-year-old New Bedford man described by the Bristol County District Attorney's Office as a career criminal will spend up to seven and a half years in state prison for two separate New Bedford house break-ins.

Kevin Souto pleaded guilty on Friday to two counts of breaking and entering and two counts of larceny from a building in connection to the burglaries, which took place in 2019 and in 2020, the D.A.'s office said.

The first break-in took place at a Keene Street home at around 11:15 a.m. on Nov. 10, 2019.

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New Bedford police arrived to find the 68-year-old victim outside the house, the front door glass broken, and the dead bolt pried off the door.

Surveillance video from a neighbor showed a man entering the home and then leaving eight minutes later.

Souto had stolen jewelry, a laptop, and a tea kettle, and pawned several pieces of the jewelry at a New Bedford pawn shop the next day, according to the D.A.'s office.

The victim eventually got her jewelry back.

Police then responded at around 4:15 p.m. on March 11, 2020 to a reported break-in at a Mount Pleasant Street home.

In that instance, the victim arrived home to find a glass panel on his side door broken and his front door damaged.

Two watches — a Rolex and a TAG Heuer — were reported missing, as well as Beats headphones and a white pillowcase.

A neighbor on Weld Street had surveillance video showing Souto entering and leaving the home two times, first with shoe boxes and then with the white pillowcase.

Souto has multiple prior convictions for breaking and entering and similar charges, according to the D.A.'s office.

He was sentenced to six and a half years up to seven and a half years in state prison.

"This defendant is a career criminal who has a history of breaking into homes," Bristol District Attorney Thomas Quinn said.

"The sentence was appropriate in order to protect the public from his habitual criminal behavior."