Darien Shoplifting 2018

Police: Man and Woman, Both in 20s, Found with Stolen Phone, Heroin, Needles

Theft of $180 Worth of Heartburn Medicine When Group of Males Visits Walgreens

Fishing Season (by Crook, Not Hook) Continues at Darien Supermarket: The Two That Got Away

Police: Serial Seafood Stealer Abandons Shrimp at Supermarket After Employee Takes Out Cell Phone

Uncaught, Red-Handed: Pair of Shoplifters Hightail It Out of Walgreens

Report: Shoplifter Takes $100 Item from Downtown Store

Inventory at Downtown Store Leads to Look at Security Video Showing Theft of $270 Worth of Jewelry

Police: Supermarket Employee Stole Food Priced at $108

Police: Juvenile Stole Items Priced at $340 from Downtown Store

Man Rolls Off With $360 Worth of Seafood in a Shopping Cart at Supermarket

Police: Man Recognized as Past Shoplifter Found Shoplifting Again

Police: Woman, 70, Shoplifted $222 Worth of Small, Relatively Expensive Items from Supermarket

Public Safety

By David Gurliacci | January 8, 2019

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By David Gurliacci | December 21, 2018

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By David Gurliacci | September 12, 2018

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By David Gurliacci | August 21, 2018

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By David Gurliacci | July 25, 2018

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By David Gurliacci | July 18, 2018

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By David Gurliacci | July 17, 2018

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By David Gurliacci | July 11, 2018

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By David Gurliacci | July 10, 2018

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By David Gurliacci | July 4, 2018

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By David Gurliacci | March 19, 2018

Public Safety

By David Gurliacci | January 26, 2018

A 29-year-old man and a 26-year-old woman were found by police on Dec. 31 in possession of heroin, needles and a cell phone that had just been stolen from a downtown Darien business, according to police. Darien police described what happened with this account, including accusations not proven in court:

An employee at the Verizon store at 1075 Post Road called police at 1:05 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 31 to tell them a phone had just been stolen from the store. The employee gave police a description of a young man and woman.

Four males entered Walgreens on Friday, Dec. 14, and made a store manager suspicious. When they left, one of the males took about six boxes of heartburn medicine with him without paying, a store surveillance camera showed. Darien police gave this account of what happened:

The four males had been in the store earlier in the day, then returned later, just before 6:50 p.m.

The manager saw that one of the males seemed to be lingering in one of the medicine aisles, arousing the manager’s suspicions. When the manager asked the male if he needed help, the male said he didn’t, then quickly walked out of the store.

Steamed Shrimp picture by Rene Comet for US Government picture on Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NCI_steamed_shrimp.jpg

Something about the seafood department at a local supermarket has been attracting thieves, and on Sept. 3, two more were caught on video making away with a haul of three bags of salmon and seven more of shrimp. Here’s how Darien police described what happened with the fruits de la mar, at least what happened at the scene of the crime:

On Monday, Sept. 3, at about 6:15 p.m., two females entered Whole Foods Market at 150 Ledge Road, according to a store surveillance video. One of the females was carrying a canvas bag.

The bounty of the sea — specifically multiple bags of frozen shrimp — was not harvested at 9:35 p.m., Monday, Aug. 13 at Whole Foods Market by a man recognized for having stolen from the store previously, Darien police said (although not quite in this way). Police described what happened in this account from what is allegedly an ongoing saga:

The suspect, a man in his 50s, was seen putting the bags of shrimp in his shopping cart. When an employee at the 150 Ledge Road store recognized him as having stolen seafood before, he took out his cell phone to call police. The suspect then left the shopping cart and left the store for parts unknown.

Two empty-handed males entered the Walgreens store at 138 Heights Road on Monday, July 16, but at least some of those hands were seen clutching stolen beach bags as the two ran out, police said. Police gave this further account:

Inside the beach bags was an unknown amount of loot. The two were seen in the area of the store where school supplies and over-the-counter medication were displayed, but store employees hadn’t been able to determine what had been taken by the time police were called at 3:31 p.m.

The manager told officers that the two thieves had been in the store before.

Darien police said that a person went into a fitting room at the Tina Dragone store in downtown Darien, then walked out and seemed to be returning an item of clothing to a store rack, but store employees later discovered that the customer left. Police didn’t say how the employees knew that or what the item of clothing was, only that it’s priced at $100. A manager of the store at 1049 Post Road contacted police at 1:47 p.m. on Thursday, July 12 to report the incident. Police were told that because there were a lot of customers in the store, the employees couldn’t continue to monitor the subject — police did not say if the subject was a man or a woman. The police announcement said: “No further details are being released on this incident as it is an active criminal investigation conducted by the Darien Police Detective Division.”

When Kirby and Company managers found a significant loss of goods for sale as they were conducting a semi-annual store inventory, they looked at video surveillance records. That’s when they saw on video a suspect concealing jewelry in a bag, then leaving the store at 1029 Post Road without paying. The theft occurred in the third week of June 2018, and it amounted to $270 in stolen merchandise. Someone fro the store contacted police on Wednesday, July 11. Police are continuing to investigate the incident and said they would release no further information about it.

A Whole Foods employee was caught eating or stealing $108 from the store, Darien police said. Police described what happened at the supermarket at 150 Ledge Road with this account, including accusations not proven in court:

Sometime before about 4 p.m. on Monday, July 2 loss-prevention employee at the store saw Raul Garcia of Stamford, a 20-year-old store employee, eating food he hadn’t bought. His personal bag was searched (something allowed by company policy), and inside it the loss-prevention employee found ice cream valued at $18 that hadn’t been paid for. Garcia admitted that he’d stolen items from the store nine times since he started working there. The store estimated that he stole items priced at a total of $108.

Alerted by a clerk in the Kirby Girl store at 14 Brook St., downtown that a shoplifter had just left, Darien police located the person matching the clerk’s description just blocks away. The suspect is a juvenile. Darien police didn’t describe the juvenile in any way, other than to say he or she is from New Canaan. Here’s how police described what happened, including accusations not proven in court:

The clerk saw the juvenile, who was not described further in a police announcement, other than to say that he or she is a New Canaan resident. Police, who didn’t give any further description of the juvenile other than to say he or she is from New Canaan, said the suspect admitted to being in the store and stealing from it.

An employee of Whole Foods Market told police that a surveillance camera recording showed a man put several bags of frozen shrimp and salmon from a freezer into his cart, then the video shows him rolling it all out of the store without paying. The incident was reported to police on Thursday, June 28. The Darien police announcement doesn’t indicate whether anyone is reported to have stopped the man before he left the store at 150 Ledge Road, and the police statement doesn’t indicate the circumstances about why the video recording was looked up or when the incident happened. The man was wearing a black baseball hat, black shirt and jeans, police said.

Mug shot James Coates of Stamford shoplifting

Employees at Stop & Shop in Noroton Heights carefully watched the 42-year-old man who entered the store Tuesday afternoon because they knew him from past shoplifting incidents, police said. That paid off, according to a police report, when he acted suspiciously and attempted to leave the store, was confronted by employees and found to have many items in his coat. They came from the Walgreens pharmacy next door, police said. Darien police described what happened with this account, including accusations not proven in court:

Police were called at 3:25 p.m., Tuesday by an employee 0f the supermarket at 138 Heights Road. Store employees told police that James Coates of Southwood Drive in Stamford was spotted in the store and watched.

Aida Hanna arrest shoplifting mug shot 18=26-18

« August 2022 »

When a store detective saw Aida Hanna, 70, walk past cash registers carrying items and not paying for them when she left Whole Foods Market, the detective confronted her outside and later looked over the loot, it turned out to be $222.58 worth of relatively expensive goods: deodorant, argan oil and various seeds. The woman, a resident of Staten Island, N.Y., had been seen by the store detective (also known as a “loss prevention officer”) putting the items in a black tote bag before walking past the registers and out the door. Police were called at 5:17 p.m., Jan. 16 by the supermarket at 150 Ledge Road. According to police, the woman admitted to them that she took the items without paying.