HAMDEN, Conn. -- The wife of Assistant Deputy House Speaker J. Brendan Sharkey walked in on a burglary at the couple's home in Hamden on Friday afternoon.

Channel 3 Eyewitness News reporter Leon Collins reported police have arrested two men, Robert Tagliaferi, 45, and Filipp Podpaly, 25, both of Cheshire.

Sharkey told Eyewitness News that this incident marks the second time in recent weeks that someone in his family was victimized by burglars in Hamden. Sharkey said his wife was not harmed, but she did come face-to-face with a burglar when she arrived to the couple's Mount Carmel Avenue home.

"He apparently told her, 'Don't call the police,' and then ran down the stairs and out of the house at that point," Sharkey said.

Mrs. Sharkey told Eyewitness News via telephone that the burglar didn't appear to be armed with any weapon, but he did have a chisel that was apparently used as a burglary tool to jimmy a second-floor window. She said the burglar did not threaten her.

Police said the representative's wife was instrumental in providing to police a good description of the assailants. Officers later found two men in their car in town.

"When she went to call the police, she was calling from a window that looks down our driveway and she could see the burglar going on foot down the driveway. And so, as she's talking to the dispatcher on 911, she switched over to her cell phone and decided -- she was angry -- to see where this guy was. Obviously, if he was on foot, then he was going to be somewhere close by," Sharkey said.

Police are investigating whether Tagliaferi and Podpaly are connected to a string of burglaries in the Mount Carmel Avenue area. Police charged both men with burglary, larceny and interfering with a police officer. Both remained held on $250,000 bond.