State Lawmakers Explore What Can Be Done About Youths Stealing Cars Across the State

Three Stolen Vehicles in One Night — Each Found: in Mass., North Haven, Down the Street

On Different Nights: Unlocked Corvette, Mercedes Each Stolen, Theft From Unlocked SUV, Police Say

After a Stolen Darien SUV Found in Waterbury, Police Find Purse Inside, Stolen From Another Darien Vehicle

Latest Unlocked Vehicle Entries: A Key Stolen from One Results in Theft of Another Car

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One Unlocked Car Stolen, Wallet Taken From Another in Noroton Bay Neighborhood

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Darien Motor Vehicle Burglaries 2021

By David Gurliacci | July 8, 2021

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By David Gurliacci | July 7, 2021

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By David Gurliacci | June 16, 2021

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By David Gurliacci | May 4, 2021

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By David Gurliacci | April 3, 2021

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By David Gurliacci | March 25, 2021

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By David Gurliacci | March 16, 2021

Police Darien Police Lock Your Car Every Time

State legislators from both parties recently started more active discussions on what can be done about youths stealing cars across the state, a problem that’s festered for years. In a related development, state Rep. Terrie Wood told constituents Thursday afternoon that she’s joined other lawmakers in petitioning for a special session of the state Legislature to address the problem. The recent death of a runner in New Britain, reportedly struck by a stolen car driven by a 17-year-old with a long criminal history, prompted a GOP news conference on the problem Wednesday morning, and then the meeting of lawmakers from both sides of the aisle that afternoon, according to a report Thursday on the CT News Junkie website. The report also said: “A bipartisan group of lawmakers emerged from a closed-door meeting at the state Capitol Wednesday with plans to pursue policies aimed at reducing youth crime including giving judges more information on the criminal records of repeat offenders.” The Democratic and Republican lawmakers said they “identified some limited common ground,” as the article described it.

In the course of one night, police said, three unlocked vehicles, each with keys inside, were stolen from outside Darien homes. Within minutes or days, each was found: One just down the street on Long Neck Point Road; another in Longmeadow, Massachusetts (93 miles from Darien, along Interstate 95 on the Massachusetts/Connecticut border); and the third in North Haven. On the same night and the next morning — Monday to Tuesday, June 28 to 29 — owners of two other unlocked vehicles told police that the vehicles had been entered, but nothing was stolen from them. SEE ALSO: State Lawmakers Explore What Can Be Done About Youths Stealing Cars Across the State (Thursday, July 8)

Darien police gave these accounts of the three vehicle thefts and the two other entries:
Vehicles Entered
At 9:32 a.m., a resident of 23 Dubois St. told police that his or her unlocked 2015 Lexus RX was entered sometime overnight.

Darien police say that on one recent night, a Corvette with the keys inside was stolen outside one home in town. On another night, a Mercedes Benz was stolen the same way. Early on another morning, someone stole a wallet and other items from an SUV. All three vehicles were left unlocked, outside. Police, who did not say that any of the thefts were related, gave these accounts of each theft (in chronological order):
The Vette
At about 6:40 a.m., Wednesday, June 23, the owner of a 2015 Chevrolet Corvette was awoken by the sound of the car starting.

Overnight Friday to Saturday, a 2020 Volvo XC60 was stolen after it was left unlocked outside a home on Horseshoe Road. Within a day, the SUV was found in Waterbury. Inside the vehicle, Darien police detectives found items stolen the same night from another unlocked vehicle outside a Brookside Road house. When police went to the Brookside Road victim’s home to tell her what they’d found, she told them she hadn’t realized her purse had been stolen. It held various bank cards, identification and keys.

Just one thing was reported stolen over one night recently when four unlocked cars were entered while parked outside at Avalon Darien — a car key. That led to a fifth car at the same housing complex being stolen the same night. Darien police said the vehicles were entered sometime overnight Monday to Tuesday, April 26 to 27. Vehicles entered were a 2019 Lexus, 2013 Jeep and a 2013 Mercedes. A 2010 Honda was where the thief got the car key.

A 2021 Jeep Gladiator was stolen overnight, Tuesday to Wednesday, March 23 to 24, from outside a home on Delafield Island Road. Then a tracking device showed the Jeep was in a Bronx, New York neighborhood from where shipping containers with stolen cars are known to be kept, police said. Darien police gave these additional details of the incident and investigation:

At 8:05 a.m. on Wednesday, March 24, the owner told police that the Jeep had been stolen. He wasn’t sure if the vehicle had been locked, but police saw there were no signs of forced entry. The owner believed the keys had been left inside.

Not locking the doors of a 2015 BMW resulted in a thief entering it overnight Sunday to Monday, March 14 to 15. Leaving the keys inside resulted in the thief driving off in the car. But having a nearly empty gas tank seems to have resulted in the thief leaving the car by the side of the road, not far away from the driveway at 49 Echo Drive. At least that’s what the owner thought after he spotted his car the next morning. He called police at 7:08 a.m. Police didn’t say that anything had been stolen from the car.

« August 2022 »

An unlocked 2020 Audi was stolen from a driveway at 14 Shipway Road sometime between 10 and 11:30 p.m., Friday the owner told police. Not far away, at 188 Nearwater Lane, a wallet was stolen from an unlocked SUV that same night, police said. The thefts happened in the Noroton Bay neighborhood, just east of Weed Beach Park. Police said:

Not only was the Audi unlocked, but both sets of keys were in it. A family member returning home at 11:30 p.m. first noticed it was missing, although it had been there at 10 p.m..