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Darien Police Have Some Tips on Preventing Motor Vehicle Burglaries and Thefts

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For the past few months, towns in Fairfield County have experienced a substantial increase in the number of both motor vehicle burglaries and stolen motor vehicles. The Darien Police Department has employed various tactics such as unmarked patrols, “bait” cars, and other investigative methods in an attempt to deter and apprehend the persons responsible. What To Do
While we are doing everything we can to impact the recent increase in incidents, we want to take the opportunity to give the residents of Darien some guidelines on keeping their vehicles and valuables safe. Always Lock Your Vehicle
The vast majority of the motor vehicle burglaries we respond to are of vehicles that were left unlocked. Often the suspects will pass over another vehicle in the same driveway because it was locked.

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Police: Darien Car Stolen, Found 21 Hours Later in Bronx—with New Canaan Man Asleep Inside

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A 2016 Nissan Maxima belonging to a 34-year-old Darien man was reported stolen sometime between midnight and noon on Monday, May 2 from where it was parked on Grove Street. Then the story gets interesting. Darien police said that after they received the report and put out a bulletin to other police departments to be on the lookout for the car, it was found the next morning by police in New York City — who found a New Canaan man sleeping inside it at 10 a.m. the next morning. Darien police described the incident and arrest with this account (including accusations not proven in court; information from New York was originally from New York police):

A resident of Grove Street, the woman who reported the incident to police was the girlfriend of a 34-year-old man, also a Grove Street resident, who owns the car. She told police that the car hadn’t been locked, but she didn’t believe the keys were in it.

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Darien Police SUV Pointed Right

Police: Borrowing a Car for a Quick Errand, Man Keeps it for Days

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A 52-year-old Darien man, seemingly grateful for finding a place to take a shower after his girlfriend kicked him out, agreed to drive his host’s SUV to pick up her daughter at school, according to police. The daughter returned, police said, but not the vehicle. Darien police gave this account (with accusations not proven in court, in part because there hasn’t been an arrest yet), based on what the car’s owner and her best friend told them:

The man is (or was, at the time) the boyfriend of the best friend of the victim. The victim had just moved to Darien and was cleaning her house when the man showed up on Thursday, saying he had slept in a parking lot overnight after his girlfriend had kicked him out of her place. The victim let him use the shower.

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Police Darien Police Lock Your Car Every Time

Unusual Spate of Darien Thefts of Vehicles, All Unlocked

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Unlocked cars parked overnight in driveways or near homes have been taken several times in the past week, and in some cases apparently by the same thieves, according to Darien police. In some cases, the vehicles were found, often undamaged. _____________

See also: Vehicle Stolen Sept. 8 on Brookside Road

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Here’s a roundup of reports from Darien police, who haven’t arrested and charged anyone (investigations are continuing):

94 Old Kings Hwy. S. — sometime between 11 p.m., Sunday, Sept.

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Pickup, Guns Stolen from Driveway — Was It the ‘Felony Lane Gang’?

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Darien police are looking into whether the “Felony Lane Gang,” which they say were stealing from cars in town, were also responsible for the theft of a pickup truck, two guns and landscaping equipment inside it on Brookside Road. The theft occurred from a driveway at 246 Brookside Road, seven tenths of a mile from Cherry Lawn Park (see map), where police believe members of the large organized gang of thieves stole from cars in the parking lot. Police say the thieves were driving a white Ford Explorer SUV

It was a day later and a short distance away that someone briefly parked what a witness said was a “white van” next to the truck, and, a couple of minutes later, both vehicles were driven away. The owner of the pickup truck says the keys were left in it, as was equipment for his landscaping business and two guns — a 9mm Beretta, fully loaded, and a Ruger brand Airsoft air rifle. The Beretta was behind the driver’s seat in a bag.