In four spots around town, motor vehicles, all apparently unlocked, were entered Saturday or overnight from Friday to Saturday, Nov. 11 to 12, Darien police said.
You can see this statement on the back of Darien Police patrol cars: “LOCK YOUR CAR. EVERY TIME. EVERYWHERE.”
The vehicles were parked in various places around town — Intervale Road, Revere Road, Noroton Avenue and the parking lot of Darien Ice Rink — and police know nothing to indicate that the incidents are related, although the locations on Noroton Avenue and Revere Road are not far from each other.
In a fourth incident last week involving a theft from a motor vehicle, a laptop was stolen from an unlocked vehicle parked at Darien High School on Election Day, Nov. 8, when school was not in session.
The laptop was later found, with its cover damaged, by the side of Noroton Avenue, not far from the Revere Road and Noroton Avenue incidents later in the week.
The vast majority of thefts from vehicles in Darien are from those left unlocked.
Here are detailed descriptions of each incident, as described by police:
(1) Tuesday, Nov. 8 — a Parking Lot at Darien High School
A New Haven woman, 71, told police on Nov. 11 that she parked her 2013 Hyundai Elantra at the high school to attend in-service training for teachers at about 8 a.m. on Nov 8.
She wasn’t sure that she had locked her car, but there was no sign of forced entry when she returned to it. She left the school at 12:30 p.m. She had left her Apple MacPro laptop on the front seat, but she didn’t realize it was missing until about 7 p.m.
Soon after that, she got a call from a resident of the 300 block of Noroton Avenue (just south of the high school). An au pair who works for the man’s family had found the laptop in the residence driveway. The outer case was heavily damaged, as if it had been thrown from a car.
(2) Overnight Friday to Saturday — Noroton Avenue
About a tenth of a mile further south on Noroton Avenue, in the 200 block and not far from the Noroton Avenue residence mentioned above, a small theft was reported Saturday morning from one of two vehicles that were entered. Both were parked outside a house and were unlocked.
A husband and wife found that each of their vehicles had been entered sometime between Friday evening and about 7 a.m. Saturday morning. About $7 in change was taken from the center console of the wife’s 2014 Ford Edge.
In the morning, the husband noticed that napkins that had been in the center console of his 2012 Toyota Camry were left on top of it. He didn’t discover that anything had been stolen from that car.
(3) Overnight Friday to Saturday or on Saturday — Revere Road
An unlocked, black 2014 Land Rover parked in the driveway of a home on Revere Road was entered sometime between 7 p.m. Friday and 2:23 p.m. Saturday, when its owner went back to it and found the side door ajar.
The glove compartment and console were ajar, with items from them strewn about inside the car. Nothing appeared to be stolen, said the victim, a 47-year-old Darien woman.
No other cars in the area appeared to have been opened or had items stolen from them. The woman told police her dog acted in an unusual way at about 11:30 p.m. on Friday.
The home’s address is close to where the laptop had been found in the theft incident earlier in the week (see No. 1, above), and where other vehicles were entered on Noroton Avenue (see No. 2, above).
(4) Overnight Friday to Saturday or Saturday — Intervale Road
A 35-year-old resident of Intervale Road told police an iPod Nano worth about $100 had been stolen from his vehicle, which he thought he had locked, but might not have been. There was no evidence of forced entry into it.
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This isn’t the first, second or even third time thefts have occurred from unlocked motor vehicles in the neighborhood around Intervale Road. Only the most recent incidents:
- Unlocked Car Stolen Overnight on West Ave, Cars Entered Nearby on Park Lane (Nov. 8)
- Two Stamford Teens Charged with Burglarizing 10 Vehicles in Darien (May 4)
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The man had parked the car at about 4:15 p.m., Friday and returned to it at 6:50 p.m., Saturday. The Nano had been in the glove box when he left the car. He didn’t have a serial number for the Nano, but his last name is engraved on it.
(5) Saturday Morning — Darien Ice Rink Parking Lot
A 28-year-old employee of Darien Ice Rink at 54 Old Kings Hwy. N. told police that a backpack containing clothes valued at $350 had been stolen from his 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee, which had been parked in the lot and was unlocked.
The man, a Stamford resident, reported the incident at 10:11 a.m. and said the theft took place that morning. Someone had called the rink office to say she saw a female acting confused in the parking lot, walking around and pulling on door handles.
The suspect was described as a slender white woman, about 60 years old, with black hair, wearing a long black jacket and having a “distinct hairline which gave the appearance of a large forehead,” according to the police report.
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See also this previous case of unlocked vehicles entered near Downtown Darien:
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The woman was last seen walking toward the YWCA of Darien/Norwalk building, which is next to the parking lot entrance on Old Kings Highway North.
Police looked around the area and asked around, but neither found the woman or anyone else who reported seeing her.
The backpack is black, with an American flag on the front.