Darien Motor Vehicle Burglaries 2020
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Police: Found Sleeping in Someone’s Car, Man, 54, Charged With Stealing Change

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The owner of a car parked outside on Patton Drive called police after he found an unknown man sleeping in the driver’s seat early in the morning on Tuesday, Sept. 15, police said. Some change was missing from the car. Police said that when when officers found the man a couple of blocks away at the Noroton Heights Railroad Station, they charged him with stealing the money. Police gave these further details, including accusations not proven in court:

The Patton Drive car owner yelled at the man, telling him to leave, and when the owner called police at 5:53 a.m., he gave them a description of the man’s clothing.

Darien Identity Theft 2020
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After Bank Cards Stolen from SUV in Country Club Parking Lot, Woman Finds $2,764 Charge

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Cash was stolen from a purse in an SUV, apparently unlocked, parked at the Wee Burn Country Club on Wednesday, Sept. 2, and bank cards were also taken, resulting in a $2,764 charge to the victim’s account, police said. The money was used to buy an item from the Apple store in New Haven. The victim parked her Lexus RX350 in the club’s parking lot at 8:15 a.m. and returned at 1 p.m., when she found all her cash and bank cards missing from the purse. At some point, she called banks to cancel her cards, but discovered that the single, large purchase had already been made.

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Maserati Stolen, Other Vehicles Entered Tuesday Night to Wednesday Morning

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A thief was able to “experience the scintillating performance of the Maserati Levante” (as the manufacturer describes the SUV) by making off with the apparently unlocked 2019 vehicle sometime Tuesday night to Wednesday morning, Darien police said. The theft, from outside a home on Old Kings Highway South, did not include the main set of keys, which the owner still has. But the man thought the spare set might have been in the vehicle. The 2019 model, when new, had a manufacturer’s suggested retail price starting at $75,980. The owner reported the theft to police at 3:34 a.m., Wednesday.

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On Two Nights, Different Car Theft Groups in Darien: Teens Found and Charged in One, Car Stolen in Another

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Two Norwalk teenagers admitted they were trying to steal a car in Darien when police caught them on Wednesday, June 3, and on Saturday to Sunday, June 7, a vehicle was stolen and later found in Hartford, police said. On each of the nights, unlocked cars were targeted, and multiple vehicles were entered, Darien police said. Also on each of those nights: Home security cameras showed people creeping around at about 3 a.m. In the stolen-car incident, that didn’t stop a resident at the same address from leaving car unlocked. The cars entered were at locations including streets well off the main roads in town and had one main thing in common — their owners had left them unlocked, and in at least one case, with the key or key fob inside. Here are the details, as provided by Darien police (including accusations not proven in court):
THE 3 CASES TUESDAY TO WEDNESDAY
Teens Charged
At 2:54 a.m., a security camera at a home on Littlebrook Road picked up two males running up the driveway near a parked vehicle.

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Bank Cards Stolen from Unlocked SUV on Hollow Tree Ridge Road

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Sometime between 6 and 7 p.m., Thursday, May 28, various bank cards and $50 in cash were stolen from an SUV outside a home at 157 Hollow Tree Ridge Road, police said. According to police:

The owner told police that her 2007 Honda Element was unlocked when it was entered, and that the bank cards and cash were in card holder that also held her driver’s license. When she reported the theft to police at 7 p.m., she said there hadn’t been any activity on her cards and that they had all been frozen. Recent Similar Reports

Three Unlocked Cars Entered on Patton Drive on Same Night Last Week (May 28)
Four Vehicles Entered Overnight on Edgerton St, Hollow Tree Ridge Rd, Thief Gets Wallet from One (May 21)
Three SUVs Entered Overnight, May 4 to 5 on Hillcrest Ave, Miller Road (May 12)

Both a Car and an SUV Stolen on Same Night in Different Parts of Town (May 7)

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Three Unlocked Cars Entered on Patton Drive on Same Night Last Week

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Three unlocked cars outside two homes on Patton Drive in Noroton Heights were entered overnight from Wednesday to Thursday, May 20 to 21, police said. Meanwhile, police in Stamford and New Canaan have noted that more vehicles are being entered in those towns. The owner of a Toyota Corolla parked outside 5 Patton Dr. told police at 6:42 a.m., May 21 that the car was entered. Items from storage compartments were strewn on the front seats, but nothing seemed to have been stolen, police were told. At 4 Patton Dr., a Fiat 500 and BMW 3 Series were also entered, with items from storage compartments strewn about inside.

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Four Vehicles Entered Overnight on Edgerton St, Hollow Tree Ridge Rd, Thief Gets Wallet from One

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Three vehicles were entered on Edgerton Street sometime overnight from Wednesday to Thursday, May 13 to 14, police were told, and one of the vehicles was in an unlocked garage. A wallet with some bank cards was stolen. Apparently on the same night, a vehicle was entered on Hollow Tree Ridge Road, about a half-mile away. This map shows the addresses where the vehicles were entered. Darien police gave out these additional details:
23 Edgerton St.

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Three SUVs Entered Overnight, May 4 to 5 on Hillcrest Ave, Miller Road

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A Hillcrest Avenue resident told police her purse was stolen out of her unlocked 2020 Audi Q5 sometime overnight Monday to Tuesday, May 4 to 5, and one of her bank cards was used that night at a gas station — in Wellesley, Massachusetts. The incident was one of three that night that were reported to police — one on the same street, the other on Miller Road, less than a mile away. A video surveillance recording at one home on Miller (with locked vehicles) caught a male and another suspect trying to get in cars at 3 a.m., police said. Police gave these additional details of the incidents:
14 Hillcrest Ave. Along with bank cards, the victim’s purse had her identification cards and cash in it.

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Both a Car and an SUV Stolen on Same Night in Different Parts of Town

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Overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday, April 28 to 29, an Audi A4 was stolen from outside a home on Holly Lane, the same night a Toyota Highlander was stolen from Fairfield Avenue. Both vehicles were later found in Bridgeport. Police received one report of a third vehicle someone apparently had tried to enter the next night, late on Wednesday, April 29. That car was locked, but the alarm went off. Three days after the car thefts, on Friday, May 1, a fourth vehicle was was reported as having been entered.

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Purse Stolen, Bank Card Used as Nighttime Thieves Enter Several Unlocked Vehicles

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By the time a Brookside Road resident realized that her SUV had been entered overnight, her one of her missing cards had been used to buy food from a McDonald’s restaurant in Hartford, police were told. It happened outside one of three homes where motor vehicles were entered overnight in Darien last week. During the same period, an SUV was stolen, also overnight, as the owner herself saw happen. None of the police announcements mentioned evidence of the cars being broken into; some of the announcements said that a vehicle or vehicles were unlocked. Police gave these accounts of what happened in each case from sometime Sunday night to Thursday morning, April 19 to 23:
Brookside Road, Monday to Tuesday, April 20 to 21
The victim, a resident of 283 Brookside Road, learned from her bank that one of her bank cards had already been used at a McDonald’s restaurant in Hartford, but when she called police at 10:33 a.m., Tuesday, April 21, she wasn’t sure how much had been spent.

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Police: Two Darien Vehicles Stolen, One Found in Bridgeport; Two Others Entered

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A 2019 Mercedes SL450 Roadster was stolen overnight, Monday to Tuesday, April 6 to 7 from a driveway on Norman Lane, then found in Bridgeport using a Mercedes tracking system. Police described what happened in this and two other incidents in which another vehicle was stolen and two more reported entered last week:
Norman Lane
The owner said his vehicle was locked and the keys were inside the home, but police noted there were no signs of forced entry (like window glass on the ground) where the car had been parked. At some point later, Mercedes’ Benz was contacted and determined with the company’s tracking system that the car was on Dande Street in Bridgeport. Police in that city confirmed it was there, and Darien police detectives went to it to examine it for evidence. The other two incidents occurred on Friday, April 10 on the other side of town.

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Police: Two Vehicles Stolen, Seven Entered, All Unlocked

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Can you imagine getting your stolen car back and having to clean it vigorously because you have no idea whether or not the thief has COVID-19? Two Darien residents had their unlocked vehicles stolen in town last week, then got them back. A stolen Greenwich car was found near where one of the Darien cars was stolen. At another household unlocked four vehicles were entered, and three more vehicles were entered outside of two other houses in town. The incidents occurred on two different overnight periods.