New Canaan Police on Saturday arrested four New York City residents in the same minivan where police found 30 pieces of stolen mail, including checks worth $45,000.
The four were stopped by police in a minivan on Jelliff Mill Road, close to the Darien border. In the van was mail from homes in Connecticut, New York and New Jersey. The police announcement didn’t say whether any Darien mail was found.
— an article from NewCanaanite.com
New Canaan police gave this account of what happened, including accusations not proven in court:
At about 10:47 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 26, officers were dispatched to the area of Hawks Hill Road on a report of a white minivan whose occupants had been seen removing mail and packages from mailboxes in the neighborhood.
The officers found the suspect vehicle and made contact in the area of Jelliff Mill Road and Shady Knoll Lane.
There, one of the four occupants — the driver, a 19-year-old Staten Island, New York man — told police they were traveling from Staten Island to the Bronx in New York.
While talking to him, police saw in plain view a piece of mail on the passenger front seat floor. The mail was addressed to a Hawks Hill Road address. Police searched the vehicle.
At about 11:52 a.m., the three passengers in the minivan — a 23-year-old New York Cithy man, an 18-year-old Staten Island woman and 21-year-old Bronx man — each were taken to police headquarters and charged with first-degree larceny, a felony; conspiracy to commit first-degree larceny and conspiracy to commit third-degree identity theft.
The driver was charged first-degree larceny, conspiracy to commit first-degree larceny, third-degree identity theft, and also was cited for motor vehicle infractions, including driving without a license and failure to renew registration.
The woman was released on $100,000 bond and is scheduled to appear March 10 in state Superior Court in Stamford. Each of the men were held on $100,000 bond and scheduled to appear Monday in the same court.
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service is continuing to investigate the incident.
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Recent reports of checks stolen from mailboxes in Darien:
—Latest Report of Check Stolen From Mailbox, Washed and Cashed for Larger Amount (Feb. 17)
—Check From Another Mailbox in Darien Stolen, Washed, Fraudulently Cashed (Feb. 13)
—Two More Mailbox Thefts, Checks Washed, Rewritten and Cashed in Each Case (Feb. 2)