Darien Motor Vehicle Burglaries 2017

Vehicles Entered Overnight on Three Streets in Darien Over the Weekend

Car Window Smashed, Purse Stolen in YMCA Parking Lot

Three Unlocked Vehicles Entered Overnight at Western End of Darien

One Unlocked Vehicle Entered on Leroy Ave Last Week

Two Motor Vehicles Stolen, Two Others Entered Overnight Thursday to Friday in Darien

Man, 35, Charged With Thefts From Darien Home and Vehicles

Area Police Chief: Revolving-Door Legal System Contributes to Spate of Car Thefts

Darien Police Have Some Tips on Preventing Motor Vehicle Burglaries and Thefts

Unlocked Cars Stolen in Northern Darien, New Canaan Over Weekend

Spate of Thefts from Motor Vehicles Continues with Some Windows Smashed

Purses Stolen at Same Time of Day from Two Vehicles Left Unlocked in the Same Area of Downtown

Windows Smashed on Vehicles Parked at Holmes School Lot on Monday and Tuesday, Oct 2 to 3

Unlocked in Darien: Two Cars Entered, One on Each Side of Town

Two More Unlocked Vehicles Entered Overnight in Darien

Several Motor Vehicles Entered, Attempt Made to Steal One, All in Noroton

Public Safety

By David Gurliacci | December 27, 2017

Public Safety

By David Gurliacci | December 20, 2017

Public Safety

By David Gurliacci | December 19, 2017

Public Safety

By David Gurliacci | November 27, 2017

Public Safety

By David Gurliacci | November 21, 2017

News

By David Gurliacci | November 20, 2017

Public Safety

By MICHAEL DINAN | November 20, 2017

Public Safety

By David Gurliacci | November 15, 2017

Public Safety

By David Gurliacci | November 6, 2017

Public Safety

By David Gurliacci | October 17, 2017

Public Safety

By David Gurliacci | October 11, 2017

Public Safety

By David Gurliacci | October 10, 2017

Public Safety

By David Gurliacci | August 30, 2017

Public Safety

By David Gurliacci | August 25, 2017

News

By David Gurliacci | August 23, 2017

Darienites on three different streets in town reported entered or attempts to enter vehicles overnight from Friday to Saturday or from Saturday to Sunday. Police described what happened with these accounts:
Overnight, Friday to Saturday: Fairview Avenue
At 6:42 a.m., a Fairview Avenue resident told police he saw a man wearing a gray parka trying to open the doors of his car and Jeep. The resident saw the man through his kitchen window. After the man found he couldn’t enter the vehicles, he left the driveway and headed west on the street. Police went to the scene, but found nothing.

A woman who left her black purse on the front passenger seat of her car when she went into the Darien YMCA last Wednesday returned about an hour later to see one of the windows smashed and the purse taken, police said. Darien police gave this additional information about the incident:

At about 5:30 p.m., the victim parked a black Mazda in the lot at 2420 Post Road and returned at 6:40 p.m. The rear passenger-side window was broken and her black purse, on the floor just under the window, was missing. The purse was valued at $300, and it had prescription glasses in it valued at $400. The incident was reported to police at 8:32 p.m., and police detectives went to the scene to process evidence. The Darien YMCA also has surveillance cameras in the parking lot.

Vehicles parked in front of three houses on the western side of Darien were entered overnight from Wednesday to Thursday, Dec. 13 to 14, police were told — and in one case a resident told police she saw a burglar. Nothing was taken. All three vehicles were unlocked. Darien police gave these accounts of the incidents, which occurred within a third of a mile from each other on Intervale Road and Park Lane:
31 Intervale Road, About 3:30 AM
At about 3:30 a.m., a homeowner at 31 Intervale Road was watching television when she saw a motion-activated flood light go on at the front of her house.

Police Darien Police Lock Your Car Every Time

A male on Leroy Avenue told police that someone entered his motor vehicle overnight from Sunday to Monday last week. That Monday morning, Nov. 20, when the victim came to the vehicle open. The vehicle hadn’t been locked overnight, the victim told police after calling them at 8:25 a.m.

The vehicle was parked outside a house at 149 Leroy Ave. No other resident of the area reported that a vehicle had been entered that night; police did not say whether they went around the neighborhood to ask if anyone knew of anything suspicious. Police did not announce any other vehicles being entered over the course of the rest of the week.

Overnight from Thursday to Friday last week, two vehicles were stolen and two others were entered in Darien, police say, with three of the incidents happening around Tokeneke. None of the investigations were over as of Monday afternoon, police said. Thefts
In the first incident to be reported, at 7:24 a.m., Friday, Nov. 17 the owner of a green 2000 Acura Integra told police he left it locked in the driveway of a home in the 300 block of West Avenue the night before. He said the vehicle only had one key, and he still had it.

Kurt Vanzuuk arrest photo Darien PD 11-20-17

When he appeared in court on Monday on other charges, Darien police arrested a 35-year-old man on accusations that he burglarized vehicles and homes in town. Here’s how police described several crimes they accuse the man of committing (with none of the accusations proven in court):

Darien police investigated several overnight car burglaries, car thefts and a burglary of a home in town in late August. In the burglary of a home on Noroton Avenue, two laptop computers were stolen while residents were asleep. A car was stolen from outside a home on Rocaton Road. On Aug.

Car Theft Burglary Post PD Facebook 11-20-17

The Waterbury gang members stealing unlocked motor vehicles from outside homes in Darien, New Canaan and other area communities often have been arrested multiple times in the past, according to New Canaan Police Chief Leon Krolikowski. Krolikowski’s comments came days before Darien Police Department posted an alert Saturday on Facebook and Twitter that three more cars were stolen overnight in town. Those arrested are nearly always juveniles — some as young as 14 years old. One girl arrested in connection with the thefts in New Canaan had been charged with 53 felonies “and she was not even held, she was released,” Krolikowski told members of the New Canaan Police Commission last week. “The justice system lets them get arrested multiple times,” he said at the Nov.

For the past few months, towns in Fairfield County have experienced a substantial increase in the number of both motor vehicle burglaries and stolen motor vehicles. The Darien Police Department has employed various tactics such as unmarked patrols, “bait” cars, and other investigative methods in an attempt to deter and apprehend the persons responsible. What To Do
While we are doing everything we can to impact the recent increase in incidents, we want to take the opportunity to give the residents of Darien some guidelines on keeping their vehicles and valuables safe. Always Lock Your Vehicle
The vast majority of the motor vehicle burglaries we respond to are of vehicles that were left unlocked. Often the suspects will pass over another vehicle in the same driveway because it was locked.

Three cars were stolen in New Canaan and another one in Darien this weekend, and two of the New Canaan cars were later found in Waterbury, according to announcements from each town’s police department. Two other cars were entered, one in New Canaan, the other in Darien. In every single case, the vehicle was unlocked. In every case in which the vehicle was stolen, the keys were inside. “These crimes are being committed by suspected gang members from Waterbury,” New Canaan Police Chief Leon Krolikowski said in a news release.

Items were taken from an unlocked car at Goodwives Shopping Center last Tuesday, Oct. 10 and at about the same time, the drivers of three other vehicles a half block away were even worse off — windows of their SUVs were smashed. Five days later, on Sunday, Oct. 15, someone visiting a grave at St. John’s Cemetery at 25 Camp Ave.

Purses were stolen from unlocked vehicles downtown, one on Tuesday, Oct. 3, the other on Thursday, Oct. 5 after they were left for just minutes, each of the victims told police. Police gave these accounts of what happened:

Each of the vehicles was parked near 780 Post Road, the building where Houlihan Lawrence (formerly Kelly Associates) real estate offices are located. The thefts took place shortly before 12:58 p.m., when they were reported to police.

Windows were smashed and items taken from cars parked in the lot at Holmes School at 18 Hoyt St. both on Monday and Tuesday last week (Oct. 2 and 3). Here’s how Darien police described each burglary:
Monday, Oct 2
A woman who works at Holmes told police she parked her gray 2016 Honda HR in the school’s parking lot at about 1 p.m. after she returned from lunch. At 3:30 p.m., she returned to the SUV and found that the front passenger’s side window was smashed and various items were taken, including a purse valued at $300, a pair of sunglasses valued at $200, a second pair of sunglasses valued at $300, credit cards and her driver’s license.

This week’s totally preventable theft from a Darien car: items of men’s clothing from a suitcase packed and left overnight in a BMW parked outside a Noroton Avenue home. Another vehicle was also entered on Ridge Acres Road, but nothing was taken from it. Both cars, of course, were unlocked. Two other cars also outside the home at 97 Ridge Acres Road were untouched. They were locked.

Before a slew of unlocked vehicles were entered overnight Saturday to Sunday, items were stolen from two others in Darien, the owners told police. Here are the details of what happened and where, according to police reports:
1 Tulip Tree Lane, Sunday to Monday
Sometime overnight, Sunday to Monday, Aug. 13 to 14, a gray 2015 Ford Escape parked outside the house was entered and a briefcase with a laptop in it was taken. On Monday morning, the owner realized that the SUV had been entered because the glove box had been left open, but didn’t realize anything had been taken. He thought he had probably left the vehicle unlocked.

« August 2022 »

Overnight from Saturday to Sunday, cars were entered on the lower end of Hollow Tree Ridge Road and nearby Wilson Ridge Road, and in one case an attempt was made to steal an SUV from a driveway, police said. Each of the vehicles was unlocked, despite repeated thefts from vehicles many times before in that same neighborhood. Darien police gave these accounts of what happened, listed in order of the times police found out about the vehicles being entered:
Attempted Theft: 33 Hollow Tree Ridge Road
A resident awoke just before 12:27 a.m. after hearing a loud banging sound. Looking outside, the homeowner discovered that the sound had been made by the homeowner’s white 2016 Honda Pilot being driven into the garage door. The SUV’s door was ajar.