When a 35-year-old man drove into Greenwich and entered vehicles sometime overnight Thursday into Friday, Aug. 24 and 25, even the car he rode in on was stolen, according to police.
Photo from Greenwich PD, via Greenwich Free Press
Greenwich arrest photo of Kurt Vanzuuk, 35, of Pacific Street in Stamford
Greenwich police gave this account of what happened (including accusations not proven in court), according to the Greenwich Free Press:
Kurt Vanzuuk of Pacific Street, Stamford, drove to Greenwich in a Nissan previously stolen in Darien, then he started entering several vehicles, as well as an occupied home. Items that may have been loot from the thefts was found on him and in the car.
At 5 a.m., a Greenwich man called police in that town to tell them he’d seen a man going into cars at the side of his house. The caller had run after Vanzuuk — until the thief pulled out a folding pocket knife.
“I don’t want people being vigilantes,” said Greenwich police Lt. Davi Nemecek. “Maybe instead use a cell phone to take a picture.” (Two people in Darien recently did just that in unrelated cases.)
Police searched the area where the thief was last seen and found a man matching the description — Vanzuuk.
Vanzuuk, who was walking, was was evasive about his presence in the area and his story was inconsistent.
He is suspected of burglarizing a home that night on Chapel Street in Greenwich. In the Nissan, police found computers, backpacks and miscellaneous property in the stolen car that may or may not have belonged to Vanzuuk.
“Property seized during this investigation will be shared with other jurisdictions to possibly aid in clearing calls in their jurisdictions,” Nemecek said.
Vanzuuk was charged with second-degree robbery, illegal storage of narcotics (reports from the Greenwich police briefing lacked information on that charge), second-degree burglary third-degree burglary, third-degree larceny, sixth-degree larceny, criminal attempt at sixth-degree larceny and third-degree criminal mischief.
He has been held on $200,000 bond and given a Sept. 6 date in state Superior Court in Stamford. The Connecticut Judicial Branch website does not indicate that he already appeared in court on the charge, so he may have been bonded out.
Citing that website, Greenwich Free Press reported that Vanzuuk has a string of convictions going back years:
- He pleaded guilty to a felony charge of possession of narcotics in 2008 and to probation violations in 2009 and 2010 (all Stamford police arrests).
- In 2016 he was found guilty of inciting injury to persons or property, a Class C felony.
- In Norwalk, he was found guilty in 2009 for a 2007 charge of first-degree harassment 1, and in 2010 for violation of probation.
- He was found guilty in state Superior Court in Norwalk for disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor, in January 2017 incident.
- He was found guilty for criminal contempt of court, a class B misdemeanor, for a January 2017 incident in Norwalk.
- He was found guilty in 2008 for a 2007 charge of first-degree criminal trespass in Norwalk.
- He was found guilty of third-degree larceny in July 2010 after his arrest on the charge the previous February.