A thief got credit cards when he successfully stole from an unlocked car one night earlier this year, but when he used one at the Darien North rest stop on Interstate 95 that night, he was caught on camera and identified, police said.
Trevor Dixon of New Haven (Darien police arrest photo)
Police say their investigation was helped when he first used a stolen credit card when he was seen on surveillance video at the rest stop, then used his own debit card to buy a late-night snack at McDonald’s.
The man police later arrested, Trevor Dixon, 28, of Bridgeport, was charged again on Monday, Dec. 7, this time for failure to appear in court on Oct. 8, police said. Police charged him when he did appear Monday in state Superior Court in Stamford.
Darien police gave this account (with accusations not proven in court) of how he came to be arrested in the first place:
On Jan. 5 police were told by an Old Parish Road resident that overnight on Jan. 2 to 3 someone had gone into her unlocked 2005 Chevrolet Suburban, parked at her home, and taken things. She lost only a small amount of cash, but two credit cards and her driver’s license were missing.
That morning she had entered her SUV and saw several items missing, including cash from the cup holder in the center console. Only later did she realize that two American Express credit cards and her license had been taken from a wallet kept under the driver’s seat.
She hadn’t used the cards for years, and she soon cancelled both of them, but was told that there had been an attempt to use one of them to purchase something from Best Buy for $319.
Police detectives, tracing the attempted purchase, found that one of the woman’s credit cards had been tried at a Best Buy vending kiosk at the Darien North rest stop on Interstate 95. Video surveillance records and digital records from Best Buy showed a man trying to buy two Apple iPad minis at 6:16 a.m. and 6:29 a.m. on Jan. 3, the same day the woman noticed her SUV had been entered.
Police also found that the same man had placed an order at the McDonald’s counter in the rest stop and used a credit card belonging to him — identifying him as Trevor Dixon. Police were able to match the video surveillance image of him with an inmate photo.
It wasn’t until March 23 that police received information from Mastercard showing that he owned the account used to buy the food from McDonald’s. In May, Dixon was arrested on charges stemming from the theft.
Dixon has been arrested by police in Stamford, New Canaan, Norwalk and Bridgeport, according to news accounts elsewhere and the Connecticut Judicial Branch website:
- In New Canaan, according to the New Canaan Advertiser he was charged in October with entering four vehicles and stealing from them. He had been arrested in January on an accusation he had stolen a credit card from an unlocked car in November and used it to buy various items, spending more than $1,000.
- In Stamford, he is accused of stealing a loaded semiautomatic pistol from an unlocked car overnight in October, according to the Stamford Advocate.
- In Norwalk, Dixon is accused of smashing a window to enter a car overnight in April and taking $1,000 in cash, credit cards and other items from it, according to The Hour.
- In Bridgeport, he was charged in July with possession of burglar’s tools.
He remains in custody and is next scheduled to appear Jan. 5 in state Superior Court in Stamford.