Five teenagers ranging in age from 15 to 17 years old were arrested on burglary charges early Saturday morning after an Anthony Lane resident called police to say that they seemed to be entering parked vehicles.
You can see this statement on the back of Darien Police patrol cars: “LOCK YOUR CAR. EVERY TIME. EVERYWHERE.”
Police, who got the call at about 5:30 a.m., described the incident and arrest with this account (including accusations not proven in court):
The Anthony Lane resident heard his vehicle’s car alarm go off shortly before he made the call and saw the teenagers in the area. Several police officers went to the area and found the group walking south on Hillside Avenue. They matched the description the resident gave them.
All of the teenage boys are from Stamford and range in age from 15 years old (one of them) to 16 (three of them) to 17 (the fifth).
The boys at first said they were coming from a nearby party. The man who had called police came to the scene and identified the boys as the ones he had seen walking away from a vehicle (parked in a nearby driveway) after its car alarm had been activated.
Police determined that the teenagers had taken two bicycles from a home on Anthony Lane and had entered 11 vehicles parked either in driveways on that street or Hollow Tree Ridge Road or nearby Glenwood Drive. The boys were taken into custody and questioned.
Each boy was charged with conspiracy to commit third-degree burglary and either two or three counts of third-degree burglary.
The owner of the two stolen bicycles declined to press charges.
The five teens were released to their parents and are scheduled to appear in Stamford Court of Juvenile Matters on June 28 (that court is expected to close soon, with all cases transferred to a juvenile court in Bridgeport).
Stamford police were advised about the Darien arrests because the incident took place so close to the border. Police from that department said numerous similar incidents have taken place in that city not far from the Daren-Stamford border. Police are continuing to investigate the matter.
Police issued this statement (recounting advice that police have issued numerous times in the past and which doesn’t seem to stop the practice):