A Stranger in the Night

New York Governor Mario Cuomo, his wife Matilda, two of their children and the family dog were upstairs in the executive mansion in Albany last week when a neighbor, Julian Quarles, 25, paid them an unexpected visit. Sometime between midnight and 7 a.m., Quarles climbed a 7-ft.-high fence outside the house, broke a window to unlock the front door, and walked in, unnoticed by the two guards stationed outside. He took a video recorder, a silver punch bowl, two candlesticks, a tray, a coffee urn and two platters:

$5,000 worth of booty.

That evening Quarles, who lives in a dilapidated apartment building one block from the Governor, went back to the mansion and surrendered. He told police that he had originally intended to break into the house, awaken Cuomo and ask to be reinstated in his $7,500-a-year state job as a janitor, which he had lost in 1981 because of absenteeism. Once inside, Quarles became frightened and decided instead to take the loot. He said he planned to return the items a few days later in the hope that the grateful Governor would reward him with a job. Cuomo, who rejected increased security as too expensive when he took office in 1983, has ordered new safety precautions for the 40-room mansion.