Thefts from Unlocked Cars, SUVs Across Town Entered Overnights in Mid-June

Across town, Darienites who didn’t lock their car or sport utility vehicles overnight found out between about June 14 and the early morning of June 19 that the vehicles had been entered overnight, police said.

Sometimes items were taken, and on Alpine Lane, where there was a report of suspicious males early one morning, an SUV stolen from Stamford was found not far from where other vehicles had been entered.

Alpine and Edelweiss Lanes, Monday to Tuesday

Two of the vehicles were entered on Alpine Lane or Edelweiss Lane overnight from Monday to Tuesday, June 18 to 19.

That’s the same area where two vehicles were entered overnight from the previous Friday to Saturday (among 10 entered across town that night). In the previous cases, one vehicle was on Echo Drive, the other on 7 Alpine Lane — right next door to one entered at 5 Alpine Lane overnight on Monday to Tuesday.

Police were called to the area of Apline and Edelweiss lanes, both off of Echo Drive sometime between 4 and 5 a.m. on Tuesday, June 19 on the report by an Echo Drive resident of suspicious males entering unlocked cars in the neighborhood.

The males were described as black teenagers wearing shorts who had arrived in a gray SUV, parked it on Alpine Lane and then headed for the Middlesex Club. The resident pointed out to police that the SUV was still parked on the street.

The vehicle, a gray 2008 Toyota 4Runner was registered to a resident of Toms Road, not far away in Stamford.

Police contacted the owner, who said he didn’t know the vehicle had been stolen. He’d left it in the driveway overnight, unlocked and with the keys in it. Darien police detectives were notified for a possible follow-up investigation.

A Crime Problem Fueled by Your Neighbors’ Behavior

Reports of thieves entering unlocked vehicles overnight have been one of the most frequently reported crimes in town. Police have said for years that if town residents just locked cars when parked outside overnight, the practice would stop. Items left inside are often taken. Keys left inside often prompt the theft of the vehicle, which is sometimes found days or weeks later in some city elsewhere in the state.

Cases of thieves smashing windows to get into locked cars do occur at parking lots in the daytime (when thieves see purses or other expensive items in the car), but those cases are almost nonexistant overnight on residential streets. The problem occurs in many towns across Connecticut.

Constant news reports of the vehicles entered don’t appear to have resulted in any change of behavior.

As police looked around the neighborhood, they found some vehicles had been entered. At 5 Alpine Lane, a gray 2012 GMC was parked in a driveway. A window was down and the glove box was opened. It appeared someone had gone through the contents of the glove box.

Police didn’t try to contact the owner that early in the morning. This is the house that was next door to one at 7 Alpine Lane, where a tote bag and a wallet were stolen overnight from Friday to Saturday.

Officers also saw a brown 2002 Nissan Xterra in the driveway at 6 Edelweiss Lane, a block away. The glove box was opened and it looked like it had been rifled through.

The owner told police that he’d parked it there without locking it at about 6 p.m. the day before. Nothing seemed to be missing from the SUV, he said, and he didn’t see or hear anything suspicious overnight.

Elsewhere in Town on Various Nights

Before and after police were busy with those incidents, unlocked vehicles were found entered, sometimes with items stolen, on various nights at various places around town between Thursday and Tuesday, June 14 to 19.

A resident of 1 Tulip Tree Lane, was told by someone in Rowayton on Thursday, June 14 that in his driveway he’d found papers belonging to the Tulip Tree Lane resident.

The resident has a black 2015 Ford Escape, which had been parked, unlocked, in the street. That’s when the victim found that a black briefcase valued at $125 had been taken, along with a MacBook laptop valued at $500 and two sets of Bose headphones, valued at $50 each.

Police were apparently (based on the time and date of the report) contacted on the morning of June 19. (Darien police reports sometimes have been inconsistent about timing in the past, although not with dates.) That’s five days after the victim had been notified by the Rowayton man.

Police asked people in the neighborhood if they knew, saw or heard anything suspicious, but that effort resulted in no new information.

At 80 Fitch Ave., nowhere near any of the other incidents, a resident told police that someone appeared to have entered the resident’s unlocked blue 2017 Ford Explorer and stolen the vehicles registration document. The driver’s side door had been left not completely closed, and the glove box was open.

This occurred sometime overnight between Friday and Saturday, June 15 to 16 (the same night police were called to the Alpine and Edelweiss lanes neighborhood. The police report has a date of June 21. Police asked around the neighborhood, but learned nothing new.

At 21 Morehouse Dr., nowhere near any of the other incidents, a registration certificate and insurance card were taken from an unlocked 2006 Lexus GX470 sometime overnight, Thursday to Friday, June 15 to 16.

The victim had parked the car at 10 p.m. and went back to it at 8 a.m. and saw that it had been entered. (Police didn’t say what led him to believe that). The victim went to Police Headquarters on Monday, June 18 to tell them about the incident.

Police asked around the neighborhood, but found no new information.