Serial Burglar James Schaff Charged in DNA-Linked Chinatown Break-Ins

BOSTON, MA — A serial break-in suspect with an extensive criminal record in Boston’s historic Beacon Hill neighborhood has been hit with new charges after DNA evidence connected him to two unsolved commercial burglaries in Chinatown.

Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden announced the arraignment of 59-year-old James Schaff. While Schaff is already serving a prison sentence for previous burglaries in Beacon Hill and Back Bay, forensic analysts from the Boston Police Crime Laboratory successfully matched his DNA profile to evidence recovered from two separate incidents dating back to 2021.

Chinatown Commercial Burglaries Solved by DNA

The new charges against Schaff stem from two break-ins where the suspect forced entry through glass storefronts:

• Asian Garden Restaurant (February 10, 2021): The suspect used a heavy cinder block to smash the front window of the restaurant. During the break-in, he cut himself on the shattered glass. Investigators recovered blood samples from the broken glass and the sidewalk outside, which later yielded a match for Schaff.
• Irashai Sushi (July 21, 2021): The intruder shattered the glass entrance door. Surveillance footage showed the burglar wrapping his hand in a sweatshirt to avoid injury. The discarded sweatshirt was recovered nearby, and DNA extracted from the garment was matched to Schaff's profile on November 19, 2025.

A Long History on Charles Street

Schaff is well known to Boston police detectives. In February 2024, he was arrested in the act during a string of break-ins targeting commercial businesses along Charles Street in Beacon Hill. That arrest followed a previous guilty plea for break-ins in the same neighborhood in August 2023. The new Chinatown indictments demonstrate how local cold-case detectives continue to leverage DNA databases to hold serial offenders accountable for historic property crimes.