Public Safety
Possible Felony Lane Gang car Facebook 912-05-16

Purses Taken from Two Cars in Burglaries Done in Style of Felony Lane Gang

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Early Friday morning, between 7:15 and 8:10 a.m., a sport utility vehicle pulled into the Darien YMCA parking lot, and when it stopped, two men got out, smashed windows of nearby cars and took purses that were on the floor of each. The burglaries were similar to those of the Felony Lane Gang, a Florida group that law enforcement authorities have said contain 700 members who rent vehicles across much of the country, smash windows to grab purses, and hand over credit cards, debit cards and checks for accomplices to exchange for money. The group has struck vehicles in Darien and other nearby communities. When they go to banks, they tend to use drive-up windows in the lane farthest from the teller, leading police to dub them the “Felony Lane Gang.” They often commit many burglaries in the same region, often striking at parking lots of fitness clubs and parks, but no area communities reported similar thefts in the days surrounding the one in Darien, a Police Department spokesman said.

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Darien Police Truck July 3 2015

Tools Taken After Three Vehicles Entered Behind Restaurant

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Two pickup trucks and a van parked in the back of Bertucci’s restaurant were entered one night last week, with tools taken from at least one of them. Darien police gave this account of the incident:

Just before 12:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 25, a police officer on patrol checked the parking area in the back of the restaurant at 54 Post Road and saw a rear passenger-side door open and a window smashed on one vehicle. Further checks showed that at least three vehicles had been entered. ______________

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While Family Visits Cherry Lawn Park, Car Window Smashed, Purse Taken

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A window was smashed and a purse stolen from inside a car while a family was visiting Cherry Lawn Park last week, police said. Darien police gave this description of the incident:

While family members were playing in a field at the park, a black SUV with tinted windows pulled into an empty space next to their car, a 2014 Honda Odyssey. The family was at the park for only 15 to 20 minutes when they returned to the car to see the driver’s side rear window smashed. A cream blue Ann Klein purse that was on the floor behind the driver’s seat was missing. The purse, owned by a 38-year-old Stamford woman, is valued at $100 and contained a pink leather wallet with $20 or $30 in cash and six or seven credit cards, the woman’s driver’s license and an iPhone 6.

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Credit Cards Stolen From Two Vehicles Parked at Woodway Country Club

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Two vehicles, apparently both unlocked, were entered in Woodway Country Club parking lots, and credit cards taken from one of them were used before either of the victims realized the thefts had taken place, police said. Police say they’ve been examining a surveillance video recording of the parking lot from when the crimes took place late in the afternoon of Wednesday, June 29 at the club, located at 412 Hoyt St. In one case, a 2014 Jeep Limited, inadvertently left unlocked along the pond side of a parking lot, was entered when it was parked there from 2 to 4:45 p.m. Police said the thief was caught on surveillance camera at about 4:15 p.m. entering the cars. The victim, a 59-year-old New Canaan woman, said she didn’t realize anything had been taken until she received a call the next day from her bank asking her about some transactions. Police said nothing was reported stolen other than credit and debit cards.

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Police Darien Police Lock Your Car Every Time

More Vehicle Burglaries, Possibly from Same Night as Incident Involving Group of Boys

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Darien police say they’ve received two more reports of vehicles that may have been burglarized on the same night that police arrested five boys for entering about a dozen others in the southwest corner of town. A resident of Concord Lane and a resident of Glenwood Road each reported that vehicles were entered. Their reports join others on Glenwood Road, Anthony Lane and Hollow Tree Ridge Road from the incident overnight from Friday to Saturday, June 18 to 19. In every single case, the cars entered were unlocked. In one of the two latest reports, a Glenwood Drive resident said three vehicles parked outside the house were entered.

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Police Darien Police Lock Your Car Every Time

Police: Five Teenagers Arrested After Stealing from 11 Unlocked Vehicles Overnight

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Five teenagers ranging in age from 15 to 17 years old were arrested on burglary charges early Saturday morning after an Anthony Lane resident called police to say that they seemed to be entering parked vehicles. Police, who got the call at about 5:30 a.m., described the incident and arrest with this account (including accusations not proven in court):

The Anthony Lane resident heard his vehicle’s car alarm go off shortly before he made the call and saw the teenagers in the area. Several police officers went to the area and found the group walking south on Hillside Avenue. They matched the description the resident gave them. All of the teenage boys are from Stamford and range in age from 15 years old (one of them) to 16 (three of them) to 17 (the fifth).

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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.