Public Safety
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Darien Detectives Helping Other Law Enforcement Agencies with Felony Lane Gang Investigations

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The “Felony Lane Gang,” which police say is a large group of thieves who smash car windows, hasn’t struck in Darien for a while, but Darien police detectives are actively helping other police agencies who are investigating them, Police Chief Duane Lovello said. “The detective bureau continues to work the Felony Lane case pretty hard,” Lovello told the Police Commission at its meeting Wednesday. “Lt. [Ronald] Bussell [commander of the Detective Division] is spending a lot of time on that, with a vast number of other agencies up and down the Eastern Seaboard, as well as the Feds on that,” Lovello said. “We do have a lot of information on the case, so we’ve been actively involved with that investigation.” Law enforcement agencies have said the criminal gang, based in Fort Lauderdale, Fl., has perhaps 700 members who rent cars, travel across much of the United States and go into parking lots of public parks, fitness studios and places where drivers are apt to be parking for a while, then look for purses or wallets they can see in the windows of vehicles.

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Police Darien Police Lock Your Car Every Time

Police Have Car Burglary Suspect, Will Apply for Arrest Warrant

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Darien police will be applying for an arrest warrant for a New Haven man they’ve identified as a suspect in at least one motor vehicle burglary in town, Police Chief Duane Lovello said. “We’re seeing car break-ins up in the Ridge Acres Road area,” Lovello told the Police Commission at a recent meeting. (Here’s a map showing the road — ignore the arrows Google puts on maps showing roads.)

“We had a couple up there,” he continued. “We also had one up near the New Canaan line. They’ve identified a suspect out of New Haven on that.

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Trevor Dixon thumbnail Mug Shot

Police: Car Burglar Tripped up Using Stolen Card at I-95 Rest Stop

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A thief got credit cards when he successfully stole from an unlocked car one night earlier this year, but when he used one at the Darien North rest stop on Interstate 95 that night, he was caught on camera and identified, police said. Police say their investigation was helped when he first used a stolen credit card when he was seen on surveillance video at the rest stop, then used his own debit card to buy a late-night snack at McDonald’s. The man police later arrested, Trevor Dixon, 28, of Bridgeport, was charged again on Monday, Dec. 7, this time for failure to appear in court on Oct. 8, police said.

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Backpack Stolen from SUV Parked at YMCA — Professional Job?

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Police are examining surveillance video of the theft of a backpack from an SUV parked in the YMCA parking lot Thursday by a 39-year-old Darien woman. The woman told police she parked her 2011 Chevrolet Tahoe in the lot at 5 p.m. and returned to it at 6 p.m., when she noticed the backpack was gone. It contained an envelope with $42 in cash and other personal information. The woman told police she’d locked the vehicle, but when police looked at the video they saw a person drive up next to the Tahoe. A person left the vehicle and entered the front, driver’s side door, then removed the backpack.

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Jabari White

Cops: Arrested Man Said He’d Heard on the News that Darien Cars Were Unlocked

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The practice of not locking cars overnight in Darien, as noted in some news report, was what attracted a Stamford man to do some nighttime stealing here, Darien police say. The man, Jabari White, 20, of Tresser Blvd., Stamford, told police that he got the idea of stealing from Darien cars after he saw a news report mentioning that the practice of not locking cars overnight was widespread in town. White, arrested Sept. 2, was the man police had said was seen on surveillance video at the Darien South rest stop on Interstate 95 on the night of many of the thefts from cars, as Darienite.com was the first to report. White is the second man recently arrested on charges of breaking into multiple vehicles overnight in Darien.

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Police Darien Police Lock Your Car Every Time

Items Taken from SUV on Outlook Drive Later Found Strewn Along Road

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See also this newer report: Arrested Man Said He Heard on the News that Darien Cars Were Unlocked

An unlocked Ford Edge SUV parked at an Outlook Drive home was entered overnight on Aug. 17 to 18 (when many other unlocked vehicles in town were entered) and items were taken from it, police were told. The owner told police that the minor items stolen from the center console vehicle were found as the owner’s family took a walk on the street days later. About $8 in change was also taken from the center console. The Darien police report was unclear on how the vehicle owner knew the SUV, a 2010 Ford Edge, was entered on Aug.

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Darien Police Have a Second Suspect in Recent Motor Vehicle Thefts

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A credit card stolen in one of the two dozen recent motor vehicle burglaries in town was used at the Interstate 95 South rest stop in Darien, pointing to a second suspect in the recent thefts, Police Chief Duane Lovello says. Lovello, speaking at the Darien Police Commission’s meeting last week, said the suspect, a man driving a vehicle, used one of the stolen credit cards “a short time” after it was stolen. Police have video surveillance records of the vehicle at the rest stop, he said. Police as of Thursday, Aug. 20, applied for an arrest warrant for the man, who they were able to identify Lovello said.

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Police Darien Police Lock Your Car Every Time

Yet More Thefts from Unlocked Motor Vehicles

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With publicity about the arrest last week of a homeless Stamford man charged with entering unlocked vehicles overnight in Noroton and Noroton Heights, more people are calling police to report thefts from their own cars, Darien police say. Joel Mackinnon, a 48-year-old homeless Stamford man, was charged Wednesday, Aug. 19, with thefts from vehicles in the wee hours of that day, and police are looking to see whether or not he was involved with similar overnight thefts in the same area. Here’s a rundown of the recent thefts:

Over the past four months, 17 motor vehicles were entered. Most were parked in driveways or streets within a mile of the Noroton Heights Railroad Station, where Mackinnon was arrested — on Miles Road, the southern end of Hollow Tree Ridge Road and Outlook Drive. Some occurred on William Street, and another was on Charles Street.

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Motor Vehicle Burglary Arrest 2015

Darien Police Charge Homeless Man, 48, with Slew of Vehicle Burglaries

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Not only was Joel Mackinnon, a 48-year-old homeless Stamford man, entering unlocked vehicles in Darien and taking things from them — when he found keys inside, he was stealing at least one vehicle, said Darien police, who arrested him early Wednesday morning. Police have been investigating more than 20 burglaries to vehicles (all or almost all of them unlocked) in the past two weeks. Here’s how they say they arrested Mackinnon, in an account which has not been proven in court:

Just after 3 a.m. on Wednesday, an officer patrolling Hollow Tree Ridge Road near Patton Drive saw a parked vehicle blocking the entire travel portion of Patton Drive. As the officer drove by, a suspect fled the scene. After the officer approached the vehicle, a 2012 Ford F-150 pickup truck, it was determined that someone was trying to steal it from a nearby driveway.