The owner of a car parked outside on Patton Drive called police after he found an unknown man sleeping in the driver’s seat early in the morning on Tuesday, Sept. 15, police said.
Some change was missing from the car. Police said that when when officers found the man a couple of blocks away at the Noroton Heights Railroad Station, they charged him with stealing the money.
Police gave these further details, including accusations not proven in court:
Photo from Darien P.D.
Joel Mackinnon, 56, charged with motor vehicle burglary and larceny, was arrested Sept. 15, 2020 in Darien.
The Patton Drive car owner yelled at the man, telling him to leave, and when the owner called police at 5:53 a.m., he gave them a description of the man’s clothing.
About $8 to $10 in change was missing from the vehicle. The owner said the driver’s door of the vehicle was broken and couldn’t lock.
An officer checking the area found a man who fit the suspect’s description at the train station. The man, Joel Mackinnon, 54, of Pacific Street in Stamford’s South End, admitted that he’d been in the vehicle. He was intoxicated and needed a place to sleep, he said.
Police found a “quantity” of loose change, but Mackinnon said he hadn’t stolen it from the vehicle.
A routine check by police found that Mackinnon was wanted on an active court warrant connected to a 2015 motor vehicle burglary arrest in Darien. He was arrested.
Charged with third-degree burglary, sixth-degree larceny and violation of probation, he was held on a $7,500 bond. He didn’t pay it, and the next morning police took him to state Superior Court in Stamford.