With publicity about the arrest last week of a homeless Stamford man charged with entering unlocked vehicles overnight in Noroton and Noroton Heights, more people are calling police to report thefts from their own cars, Darien police say.
Joel Mackinnon, a 48-year-old homeless Stamford man, was charged Wednesday, Aug. 19, with thefts from vehicles in the wee hours of that day, and police are looking to see whether or not he was involved with similar overnight thefts in the same area.
Here’s a rundown of the recent thefts:
- Over the past four months, 17 motor vehicles were entered. Most were parked in driveways or streets within a mile of the Noroton Heights Railroad Station, where Mackinnon was arrested — on Miles Road, the southern end of Hollow Tree Ridge Road and Outlook Drive. Some occurred on William Street, and another was on Charles Street.
- Among the thefts in the past four months: overnight July 31 to Aug. 1 — two vehicles parked on Pear Tree Point Road were entered.
- Overnight Wednesday/Thursday, Aug. 12 to 13 — two vehicles on Patton Drive (one of the streets where police believe Mackinnon was stealing from cars).
There are two other cases of thefts from motor vehicles that don’t appear related to the Stamford man but may be related to each other, police say:
- Raider’s Lane — sometime between 7:45 p.m. on Aug. 17 and 8 a.m. on Aug. 18 (the day before Mackinnon’s arrest), a 10-inch by 12-inch blue Ralph Lauren purse valued at $150 was taken from the back seat of a vehicle. Inside the purse was $80 in cash and four credit cards. Three of the cards were fraudulently used at numerous locations in Hartford and nearby New Windsor, and it wasn’t until the 68-year-old owner was contacted by one of her credit card companies that she realized the theft had taken place. A total of $1,212.92 was fraudulently charged. The car, a 2013 BMW 328i had not been locked.
- Old Kings Highway South — a police spokesman didn’t have details of the case because the report wasn’t available, but it also occurred in the same overnight period. The spokesman did not have information on whether or not anything was taken.
In all of the cases referred to above, drivers left vehicles unlocked and parked near their homes overnight. Police repeatedly ask town residents to lock their car doors.
Continually, many town residents don’t lock them, a practice encourages thieves to come by and try the doors. Sometimes doors to homes are tried by thieves to see if those, too, are unlocked.
On the back of Darien Police patrol cars, you can see the message: “LOCK YOUR CAR. EVERY TIME. EVERYWHERE.”
