Darienite (https://darienite.com/tag/darien-motor-vehicle-break-ins-2015)
Three Fort Lauderdale, Fla. men already charged with breaking into vehicles in the Darien YMCA parking lot on Sept. 9 have now been charged with doing the same at the parking lot at Cherry Lawn Park on Sept. 7. When Oliver Chance, 24; Kenton Chance, 31; and Jerevonte Bray, 18 each appeared in state Superior Court in Stamford on Jan.
Recent car break-ins on Saturday, Oct. 31 at Cherry Lawn Park (the second time windows of several vehicles were smashed at the park) look like the work of the Felony Lane Gang, Darien police said Friday in an announcement. Police said that in the past week break-ins that also look like the work of the gang have occurred in “dozens of similar incidents” in other area communities. Unauthorized charges have been made to credit cards and debit cards stolen from purses in the vehicles, also a mark of the gang. The brief statement on Friday said that cars in the parking lots of fitness clubs, parks and day-care centers are typically targeted.
After windows of four vehicles were smashed and thieves took purses at Cherry Lawn Park, Darien police are wondering if the “Felony Lane Gang” has paid the town another visit. On Oct. 31, four vehicles were hit in the park at 120 Brookside Road in a very short time. Purses were taken from the floors and seats inside, although none of the credit cards were stolen by the time police wrote up a report on the incidents. Weeks ago, Darien police said, the town was visited by members of the “Felony Lane Gang”, a national group of thieves who targeted items in vehicles.
Someone used a softball-sized rock to smash the passenger-side window of a sport utility vehicle parked overnight on Wakeman Road on Thursday night, Darien police said. The incident occurred about seven tenths of a mile away from Pine Brook Lane, where someone entered three unlocked vehicles on the same night. No windows were smashed in the Pine Brook Lane cases. Unlike the Pine Brook Lane cases, quite a bit was stolen from the 2013 GMC Yukon sometime between 9 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. Thursday, according to the police report. A credit card was taken and used at 12:11 a.m. in New Haven on Friday, Oct.
Sometime overnight from Thursday to Friday, three unlocked cars parked in driveways on Pine Brook Lane were entered and had things taken from them, the victims told police. Of the three vehicles from which things were stolen on the very short street, the latest to be parked in one of the driveways came at 10:10 p.m., and the earliest point that someone found things missing in one of the vehicles was 6 a.m.
On the same night, someone used a rock to smash a passenger window of a vehicle parked on Wakeman Lane, then steal items valued at $1,800 from the vehicle
2014 BMW X3
The owner of a black 2014 BMW X3 was the first to report a theft. The 59-year-old woman came to Police Headquarters at about 7:30 a.m. on Friday, Oc. 16. She told police that shed parked her car in her driveway at 7:50 p.m. Thursday and returned to it at 6 a.m., Friday to find the center console open and a $20 bill and a small amount of loose coins missing from it.
Three Florida men arrested last week by Darien police in connection with motor vehicle burglaries in town appear to be a tiny part of an enormous gang, hundreds strong, who steal purses from cars, Darien police said. The following account is based on a Darien police description of their investigation, which contains accusations not proven in court:
Police believe the men already arrested had also broken into cars last week, both in a lot at Cherry Lawn Park and in the parking lot at the Darien YMCA. A second group of men, connected with the Darien arrestees, were found and arrested in West Haven in connection with motor vehicle break-ins near that community. Police say the 10-year-old group they’ve named the “Felony Lane Gang,” based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., has had 700 known members, has been conducting car break-ins as professional criminals in at least 40 states, and has several distinct ways it typically commits its crimes. “Felony Lane” is a nickname for the far right lane at a bank drive-up window.
Three Florida men who committed “several ‘smash and grab’ type car burglaries” in Darien in the past week were arrested Thursday night, Darien police announced late Friday morning. Darien police, who made the arrest in West Haven with the help of police in that community, gave this account (with accusations not proven in court):
The men went into vehicles in parking lots in Darien that had purses and other items visible through the windows. Proceeds from some of the burglaries were found in the West Haven area, and Darien police identified the vehicle that suspects were using for the break-ins in town and for crimes in “several other cities and states.” On Thursday, Darien and West Haven police “conducted a focused surveillance” at several locations in West Haven, and at 11:30 p.m., a West Haven officer saw the vehicle police were looking for as it rolled down Elm Street in that town. It had been rented from a car rental business located at Fort Lauderdale Airport.