Darien Motor Vehicle Burglary 2017

A Year After Credit Cards Stolen, Darien Police Find, Charge and Extradite 34-Year-Old Boston Man

Vehicles Entered Overnight on Three Streets in Darien Over the Weekend

Windows of an SUV Smashed and Purses in It Taken on Saturday

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

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

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

Car Window Smashed at YMCA: Wallet, iPad, Other Items Stolen

SUV Stolen, Six Other Vehicles Entered Overnight Saturday to Sunday, All Unlocked

Parts Stolen from a New Honda Parked off of West Avenue

Public Safety

By David Gurliacci | October 26, 2018

Public Safety

By David Gurliacci | December 27, 2017

Public Safety

By David Gurliacci | December 11, 2017

News

By David Gurliacci | November 20, 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

News

By David Gurliacci | August 23, 2017

Public Safety

By David Gurliacci | August 9, 2017

Public Safety

By David Gurliacci | June 20, 2017

Public Safety

By David Gurliacci | April 13, 2017

Almost a year after credit cards were stolen from a vehicle parked at Avalon Darien and used at the Interstate 95 Darien South rest stop, town police extradited and arrested a 34-year-old Boston man accused of the crimes. Darien police described what happened with this account, including accusations not proven in court:

On Oct. 28, 2017, Darien police were told that credit cards were taken from a vehicle parked at the apartment complex at 137 Hollow Tree Ridge Road. Cards taken in the burglary were then used at the rest stop. With the help of Connecticut State Police, Darien police got surveillance video records showing the credit cards used at the rest stop.

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.

While a woman was in the Darien Ice Rink on Saturday afternoon, someone smashed a window of her SUV and took two purses, along with the wallets and credit cards in them, police said. Darien police gave this account of what happened:

The woman parked on the side of the ice rink building at 55 Old Kings Hwy. North at about 1:30 p.m. and went inside. While there, she heard an announcement close to 2:50 p.m. saying that an SUV’s windows were smashed, and the description given sounded like hers — a white 2017 Nissan Rogue. Police immediately were called (at 2:47 p.m., perhaps before the announcement was made).

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.

Police Darien Police Lock Your Car Every Time

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.

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.

A Darien man returned to his car in the Darien YMCA parking lot just before 4:30 p.m. on Friday to find the rear passenger-side window had been smashed and a briefcase stolen from it with items valued at $1,400, including his wallet.

Darien police gave this account of the matter:

The 64-year-old man parked his gray 2012 Lexus RX on the east side of the parking lot at 3:05 p.m. Surveillance video showed that at 4:07 p.m., two black males got out of a Honda Odyssey with a license plate that appeared to be from Florida. One suspect wore a gray hoodie, black shorts and black sneakers; the other, a green shirt. The brown leather briefcase taken from the car contained a wallet, credit cards and identification. Also taken from the car: an umbrella and an iPad Air. The iPad was later found by Darien police officers by the side of the northbound entrance ramp at the Interstate 95 Exit 16 interchange.

A tan Lincoln Navigator was stolen from outside a house on Christie Hill Road sometime overnight from Saturday to Sunday, a resident told police. The vehicle was one of seven that police found had been entered on that street just over a a mile away on Phillips Place during the same overnight period. Not one of the vehicles was locked. Police gave these accounts of each theft:

The Navigator was one of two vehicles parked at the house at 120 Christie Hill Road. A wallet was taken from the other vehicle.

« August 2022 »

A 2017 Honda Accord parked in a lot downtown was broken into and parts were stolen from it — including the trunk lid — while the owner, a 75-year-old woman, was visiting a spa. Darien police gave this account of the incident:

After two hours in Lanphier Spa at 20 West Ave., the owner came out to her silver-colored Honda at 1:10 p.m. on Thursday, April 6 to find the lid of the trunk removed. Looking at the car further, the woman, a Stamford resident, realized that the driver side door lock had been forced open and her steering wheel airbag was missing. She immediately called police, who saw that the trunk lid had been removed from the assembly arms. The rear license plate was attached to the trunk lid and was also gone. No other vehicles in the area had been disturbed, and thefts (of any type) from vehicles in that parking lot are extremely rare.