A 40-year-old convicted felon was charged with burglary yesterday in connection with the theft of more than $300,000 worth of Prada merchandise from a Kaka'ako warehouse in December.

Tracey F.W. Coryell Sr., 40, was arrested on suspicion of second-degree burglary Wednesday after he told police that he and three others stole Prada merchandise from the company's Kaka'ako warehouse Dec. 26, police said.

Coryell is being held in lieu of $20,000 bail. Burglary in the second degree is a Class C felony, punishable by up to five years in jail.

Police said the stolen items have a retail value of more than $300,000 and a wholesale value of $95,000. They were initially thought to have a retail value of $1 million and wholesale value of about $650,000, but police revised the amounts after reviewing company records.

Coryell was arrested at O'ahu Community Correctional Center, where he was being held on an unrelated charge.

Coryell has 30 criminal convictions, including two each for burglary and felony theft. He was serving five years probation after being convicted of car theft in February 2005.

At 8:45 a.m. on Dec. 26, the Prada warehouse supervisor got a call from his alarm company telling him the alarm was showing a "no contact" problem, according to documents filed in O'ahu District Court yesterday.

At 9:15 a.m., the manager arrived at the Prada warehouse, located at 435-B Ko'ula St., to find large quantities of marked Prada merchandise missing, including clothes, purses, wallets, shoes and ties.

Three days later, on Dec. 29, officers with the Police Department's District 3 Crime Reduction Unit arrested a woman for car theft at 99-425 Kekoa Place.

The officers searched the woman's house and found several marked Prada items in the woman's bedroom, according to court documents. Merchandise on hangers and in clear plastic bags marked "Prada" were recovered.

During an interview, the woman identified Coryell as the man who gave her the stolen car and the Prada merchandise. She picked Coryell out of a photo lineup provided by detectives, according to court documents.

On Jan. 10, HPD District 1 Crime Reduction Unit officers saw Coryell driving a car with expired temporary plates and tried to stop him for a traffic violation.

Coryell attempted to "elude" officers, eventually ditching the car and trying to run.

Officers ran Coryell down and arrested him for car theft after a check of the vehicle he was seen driving revealed it was stolen.

During an interview after the arrest, Coryell admitted driving a stolen van and acting as a lookout for three men who broke into the Prada warehouse. Coryell said he helped load the van at the warehouse and then drove it to a house in Salt Lake where the group divided their take.

The merchandise found in the woman's apartment was Coryell's share from the burglary, he told police.

Police are continuing to investigate the Prada theft and are looking to see if it is connected to a series of 19 burglaries dating back to October.

Reach Peter Boylan at pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com.