after nine years on the run in Europe, the suspected bandit

STAMFORD, Conn. - The "dinnertime bandit" pulled off his thefts with stealth and precision, clad in black clothes as he scaled columns to slip into the second-story windows at homes of the wealthy and make off with jewelry, authorities said.

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On Friday, after nine years on the run in Europe, the suspected bandit, Alan W. Golder, was brought before a judge for arraignment.

Golder, 52, did not enter a plea and was ordered held on a $3 million bond.

Prosecutors say he had been living in Belgium and Paris and has had seven aliases. He was extradited from Belgium on Wednesday. Greenwich police charged him with nearly 40 felony counts, including burglary, larceny and kidnapping, in break-ins in the 1990s.

Authorities have said he is also a suspect in 50 burglaries in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, totaling about $5 million in stolen jewelry.

Golder is being represented by a public defender who said in court that his client may retain a private attorney as the case progresses. The public defender did not return a message left after business hours Friday.

Authorities estimate nearly $1 million in goods were taken in the Greenwich thefts. The homes were broken into mostly at sundown or early evening when many residents were home and alarm systems were off.

Authorities say most of the break-ins occurred through second-story windows, with the suspect moving about quietly and leaving little trace of anyone being there. In arrest affidavits, authorities detail the hallmarks of a thief who prided himself on his work.

Golder could get into an upstairs window by shimmying up support columns or scaling gutters, wore gloves to avoid leaving fingerprints and donned a black "ninja" type suit with a black hood with slits for eye holes, according to arrest records released in court.

But he left some evidence behind, including a distinctive tread pattern from a Reebok Exo-Fit sneaker, authorities said.

Golder was also acrobatic, police said. During one burglary, he dove out a bathroom window onto a flat roof when an 8-year-old girl saw him and screamed, police said.

"This maneuver required a marked degree of dexterity as the window or frame was not damaged during the flight," the arrest affidavit states.

During another robbery, investigators said Golder physically restrained a woman when she came into the master bedroom. "You had to come in the bedroom," he told her.

The homeowner was "manipulated in a strong arm fashion" through the house as the robber asked for fine jewelry. After she objected to being put in a closet, he tied her to a bed with her husband's neckties and stole her Jaguar, the arrest warrant said.

Although he wore a mask, the homeowner described the robber as having a ruddy complexion, stark blue eyes and wisps of red/auburn hair.

His brother, John Kulp, who sometimes was his driver, told police that Golder "gets a rush" out of burglarizing homes while the owners are home, the affidavit said.

On the ride back to New York, where he lived, Golder would test the gems, police said. He sold the stolen jewelry in the New York diamond district and sometimes traded for fake identification, including a false international driver's license, they said.

Golder's brother was arrested in Las Vegas in 1998. It was not immediately clear whether he was convicted.

The Greenwich burglaries occurred while Golder was on parole for his role in the 1978 killing of real estate developer Lawrence Lever. Lever was shot by an accomplice of Golder during a break-in. Golder served 15 years in prison and was paroled in June 1996.

The Greenwich burglaries began three months later.

When he fled his home, Golder left behind a copy of a story proposal about his life, titled "Precious Metal: Confessions of a Rock 'n' Roll Jewel Thief." It dealt with his life before he went to prison.

Police have said that they do not know how much of the story was true and that it did not contain any information that helped in the current investigation.

Segments on Golder had been broadcast repeatedly on television's "America's Most Wanted" and "Unsolved Mysteries" after his disappearance. He is due back in court Dec. 11.