In two separate, apparently unrelated incidents, thefts occurred in the Center Street parking lot in downtown Darien. One of the thefts was considerably more successful than the other.
Darien police gave these accounts of the incidents:
Stolen Purse, Saturday, Oct. 15
At about 2 p.m., a 37-year-old Darien woman who had just eaten lunch at a Center Street restaurant put her purse next to a vehicle before getting in her husband’s car and forgot it as the car drove away.
Two hours later, she realized what she had done and returned to the spot, but the purse was gone.
It’s a black and white Kate Spade brand handbag that held her cell phone, a wallet and an item of clothing. The handbag is valued at $150. The Tory Burch brand wallet is also valued at $150, and there was $300 in cash inside it, along with three credit cards and a debit card.
All the cards were canceled without anyone fraudulently trying to use them. Attempts were made to call the phone — an iPhone — but it was turned off. The victim said she had left the phone on and it had plenty of battery life.
Police canvassed the area, but no one had seen or heard anything suspicious or seen the handbag.
SUV Entered, Tuesday, Oct. 4
A 40-year-old Rowayton man, walking to his car in the Center Street parking lot behind CVS Pharmacy at about 9:30 p.m., heard the sound of smashing glass and looked up to see what seemed to be a man reaching into a vehicle. The vehicle was parked on the middle of the parking lot.
The man later described the thief as a black male, possibly with dreadlocks, wearing a gray shirt or sweatshirt. The man got into a light colored sedan and left the parking lot at the exit at Center Street.
Police were called to the scene. They found a 2008 Honda CRV, locked, but with the passenger-side window smashed, the glove box open and contents from it on the front seat. A two-inch long rock was on the dashboard, against the windshield. No other vehicles in the lot had smashed windows or appeared to have been burglarized.
The SUV’s owner was later found. She said the only thing she found missing was a pocketbook which had been left on the passenger seat when she went to dinner nearby.
The victim, a 29-year-old Wilton woman, valued the faux leather pocketbook at about $40.
It was completely empty.