Unlocked in Darien

Another Vehicle Stolen from Out-of-the-Way Rocaton Road

Latest Overnight Thefts from Unlocked Vehicles in Two Areas of Darien

It Could Happen Here (and Has): Weekend Thefts of 8 Unlocked Cars & 2 High Speed Chases in Greenwich

Six Vehicles Entered Overnight, Thursday to Friday, on Thomasina Lane

Unlocked Vehicle Stolen from Driveway on Mansfield Avenue

WORSE THAN EVER: 22 Motor Vehicle Burglaries in Darien on Three Nights Last Week

Two Unlocked Cars Stolen Last Week, One Found with GPS; and Five More Vehicles Entered

Here’s Where 3 Unlocked Vehicles Were Recently Entered in Darien, Items Stolen from Two

Multiple Motor Vehicles Entered Overnight in Two Areas of Darien

Sunglasses, iPhone Stolen from Unlocked Car on Sedgewick Ave

Only One Unlocked Car Entered Overnight in Darien As of March 1 — But an Above-Average Haul

Police Chief on Recent Car Burglary Spree: 2 Arrests Helped, Other Towns Getting Similar Burglaries

Car Stolen on Rocaton Road Last Week Found Monday in Bridgeport

Overnight Thefts Continue from Unlocked Darien Vehicles, Two Teens Arrested

After 20 Vehicles Entered, Several Thefts, 2 Cars Stolen in Two Weeks, Police Arrest 2 Teens

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Rocaton Road, not far from Darien Railroad Station, but still an out-of-the-way side street with only one outlet on to Leroy Road, has experienced its second theft of an unlocked vehicle this year, according to a police report. Darien police described the latest incident with this account:

At 4:30 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 19, a man working as a personal driver left his own SUV, a yellow 2005 Nissan Xterra unlocked in the driveway at 28 Rocaton Road, with the keys in the cup holder of the center console. The man returned at 6:30 a.m. to find his car missing. Overnight from Feb.

Overnight thefts from parked vehicles happened in two different neighborhoods in town on different nights last week. What they had in common is what these thefts normally have in common — the cars were unlocked when they were left outside overnight. Here are the details, according to police:
Tuesday to Wednesday:
On or Around Post Road Near Stamford
At 2757 Post Road, a white 2016 GMC Savana van and a blue 2010 Subarou Outback SUV were found to have open glove boxes sometime before 8:19 a.m. when the incident was reported to police. The owner told police he didn’t think anything had been taken. Police got no new information when they knocked on doors of neighbors to see if anyone heard, saw or knew of anything unusual overnight.

Police Darien Police Lock Your Car Every Time

Eight people in Greenwich went to bed Saturday night only to wake up Sunday morning to find their cars were gone, according to police there, and in two cases, the thefts resulted in car chases. Every single one of the cars was unlocked and with the keys inside. Greenwich police pointed out that similar thefts are going on in neighboring communities, including New Canaan and Darien. One Chased Car Flipped Over Several Times
Also, over the weekend there were two high speed police pursuits. One chase went to the service road on North Street opposite the reservoir, where the thief escaped on foot and remains at large.

Six motor vehicles — all of them unlocked — were entered sometime overnight from Thursday to Friday, July 13 to 14, on Thomasina Lane (a dead-end road off of Dubois Street), Darien police said. The first theft report was at 8:30 a.m. from 5 Thomasina Lane, and the next reports came soon after (except for the last, which came in at 12:52 p.m.). Usually, police canvassing a neighborhood after a theft from an unlocked vehicle find that other vehicles were entered. A white 2017 Lexus NX200T and a black 2011 Toyota 4Runner parked in the driveway of 5 Thomasina Lane were entered. About $5 in loose change were taken from each vehicle.

A car left typically unlocked in the driveway of a home at 45 Mansfield Ave. was stolen recently, a resident reported to police. The resident told police at 7 p.m., Wednesday, May 31, that the stolen car is owned by her ex-husband and was kept in the driveway for use by other family members. It was always unlocked, with the keys inside. All other family members confirmed they hadn’t taken the car. The ex-wife said she might have seen the car three days before, but wasn’t certain.

Darien Police report an eye-popping 22 motor vehicles were entered in town in the course of last week — every single one of them unlocked — with items taken from some. Police believe all of the vehicles were entered overnight, either on April 11 to 12, April 13 to 14 or April 14 to 15. Police didn’t provide detailed descriptions of each incident — just released this long list (nothing was taken from the vehicles on the list unless specifically mentioned below):

Overnight Tuesday to Wednesday, April 11 to 12 — total of 14 vehicles

* 1 on McLaren Road

* 2 on Fairview Avenue

* 2 on Midbrook Lane

* 1 on Cherry St. — missing items Magahino brand wallet, valued at $150; three credit cards

* 3 on Robinson Street

* 3 on Hamilton Lane — missing items from one car: $10 worth of coins; $20 in paper currency; a pair of sunglasses, brand unknown, value unknown. * 2 on Charles St.

Two vehicles were stolen overnight in Darien last week — both unlocked, both with the keys left in them — and one was found in Waterbury with the help of a GPS system, town police said. All of these motor vehicle burglaries and thefts occurred within two miles from each other in the central part of town. All but one (the Oak Crest vehicle theft and the motor vehicle burglary on Roland Drive, a block to the south) occurred overnight last Tuesday to Wednesday. Darien police gave these descriptions of the incidents:
28 Shields Road, Overnight Tuesday to Wednesday, April 4 to 5

A white 2017 BMW X3 had been last seen by its owner at about 10 p.m. on Tuesday, April 4. It had been parked in the driveway of 28 Shields Road.

Unlocked vehicles were entered overnight outside these three houses in town, thefts from two of the vehicles include a Jeep key fob, valued at $283, police said:
28 Sunset Road, Overnight Friday to Saturday, March 24 to 25
A 2011 Toyota Sienna minivan was entered sometime between 5:30 p.m., Friday, March 24 and 9 a.m., Saturday, March 25. About $8 in loose change and an iPhone charger were taken. The theft was reported to police on Monday, March 27 after the 53-year-old victim heard of other, similar thefts in the area. 26 Fitch Ave., overnight Sunday to Monday, March 26 to 27
A 2017 Audi Q7 parked outside 26 Fitch Ave. was entered sometime between 6 p.m. on Sunday, March 26 and 8:30 a.m. the following day, when the 36-year-old victim found the glove box and center console riffled through. Nothing appeared to have been taken.

There were two sets of overnight motor vehicle burglaries in Darien last week, one set in Noroton overnight Monday to Tuesday; the other on streets off of Mansfield Avenue overnight Friday to Saturday. Each of the burglaries are thought to be related to others on the same night. Darien police are working with Norwalk police, who also reported vehicles entered in Rowayton, within about 2.5 miles from the ones near Mansfield Avenue. Three vehicles that were unlocked and had keys in them were stolen from Rowayton, and a vehicle stolen from Torrington was found in Norwalk. Update, 6:37 p.m. — Norwalk police released this statement about motor vehicles entered and, in some cases, stolen in Rowayton:

Don’t make it this easy!

When a car (later recovered) was reported stolen from Rocaton Road several weeks ago, a resident of Sedgewick Avenue, not far away, decided to report the theft of an iPhone 6 and a pair of sunglasses from an unlocked car on the same night. The Rocaton Road theft was discovered by the owner of the car on the morning of Feb. 22. The man, 55, told police the iPhone was in his BMW 5 series, parked in his driveway overnight at 71 Sedgewick Ave., when the car had been entered sometime between 9 p.m., and the next morning at 8 a.m.

At first, when he found that the car had been entered and the glove box and center console had been riffled through, he didn’t think anything had been taken. Later, he realized that the iPhone, which he’d kept in the car to listen to music, and the sunglasses were gone.

Reported burglaries of unlocked motor vehicles in Darien went down to only one after Sunday of last week, but the thief or thieves got four bank cards, four store credit cards, a debit card and about $40 in cash. Darien police gave this account of the theft:

Sometime overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday, Feb. 28 to March 1, a white 2015 BMW parked outside 65 Hoyt St. was entered. The owner, 48, reported the theft to police at 7:46 a.m.

She had last seen the car at 10 p.m. the night before, then got back to the car at 7 a.m. The stolen items had been taken from her purse, although other valuable items in the purse were left behind.

Darien isn’t unusual in getting hit with a recent rash of burglaries into unlocked motor vehicles, and it looks like the two teenagers recently arrested in town could solve a dozen of the recent burglaries, Police Chief Ray Osborne says. Speaking to the Police Commission at its regular meeting on Wednesday, Osborne said the two 17-year-old Stamford boys arrested by police admitted to quite a few burglaries. One of the boys had been found in Stamford inside an SUV stolen from Wilson Ridge Road. “Through some interviews with them, we got admissions of at least 12 other motor vehicle burglaries they had done a couple of nights previous to that [the day of the interviews],” Osborne told the commission. “Stamford ended up charging them, as well, with numerous motor vehicle burglaries,” he said.

Bridgeport police on Monday found the black 2016 Audi Q5 that had been stolen from outside 15 Rocaton Road the week before. The car, valued at $42,000, had been left unlocked overnight outside the house. Someone drove off with it overnight Tuesday to Wednesday, Feb. 21 to 22. The 59-year-old owner told police that the car was unlocked and one of the sets of keys was missing. It was found at about 8 p.m. near an intersection in downtown Bridgeport according to Darien police Lt. Jeremiah Marron.

Editor’s note: This article has been updated near the bottom:

More unlocked cars and SUVs have been entered overnight, not only in Noroton but at the Kensett houses much farther north and on Rocaton Road in the central part of town, according to police reports. A total of 10 different people have been either seen on video surveillance, arrested or stopped by police late at night. Some of these people — including two arrested teenagers and three others dressed all in black and stopped by police on the Post Road — were mentioned in a police announcement last week. Police gave a bit more information on the circumstances surrounding two teenagers arrested after one of them was spotted on the Post Road near motor vehicle burglaries. Police also gave out more information about stopping a young man and two teenagers all in black as they ran along the Post Road just after 12 midnight on Thursday, Feb.

« August 2022 »

Two Stamford teenagers, both 17, have been charged in connection with numerous cars being entered, several thefts from them and a stolen SUV after Darien police worked undercover in a surveillance operation, police announced Thursday morning. Here’s the police news release:

During the past two weeks over 20 car burglaries and two stolen vehicles have been reported in Darien. In all of these incidents the vehicles were left unlocked and the ignition keys were in the vehicles that were stolen. On Feb. 22, 2017 the Darien Police Department Selective Enforcement Unit, Detective Division, and Patrol Division conducted a joint surveillance operation targeting the car theft suspects.