Silver Thief Nabbed

Police from a half-dozen agencies banded together last week to nab a man they said was a highly sophisticated professional burglar. He is suspected to have operated in East Hampton Village, among other places.

Blane David Nordahl was picked up in Wisconsin Oct. 16, but faces charges in Southampton, Palm Beach, Greenwich, Conn., New Jersey, and elsewhere. He specialized, police said, in sterling silver, stolen mostly from estates of the rich and famous, including, reportedly, Ivana Trump.

East Hampton Village Police Chief Glen Stonemetz said Mr. Nordahl was a "strong suspect" in "two or three" burglaries in the village. The chief said detectives had just begun to check some older files, but that he remembered places where sterling silver was the target of a thief.

In Southampton Village, Mr. Nordahl has been implicated in as many as 10 burglaries.

"I can put him in the area at the time of the [1994] crimes," said Sgt. Michael Schucht. He said police from different states compared notes and found their thief "was doing the exact same thing in every case."

Mr. Nordahl allegedly entered large houses at night and took everything he could carry made of silver. He usually discarded silver-plated objects, often on the lawns and driveways of his victims, and made off with the sterling.

Detective Schucht said he believed Mr. Nordahl fenced the goods to accomplices. He declined to reveal the identity of the Southampton victims, except to say "they were all south of Hill Street" - the toniest part of the village. R.M.