Two unlocked motor vehicles in Darien were entered on (it appears) two nights over the weekend, and Police Chief Ray Osborne is asking residents to help with overnight thefts, not only by locking cars, but by telling police when they find something suspicious.
The motor vehicles were entered within a mile of one another. One was entered sometime between Saturday evening and Sunday evening, most likely in the several hours before dawn on Sunday, at 23 Chestnut St. The other was entered late Sunday evening at 41 Deepwood Road.
Also within a mile of those two incidents, police became suspicious of three teenagers at a different location in town in the wee hours Sunday morning, but no criminal activity was seen, and police say they have no reason to suspect the boys had any connection to the incidents.
Police Chief Ray Osborne’s Request to Residents
Here’s Osborne’s statement, released by the Police Department on Monday afternoon:
As many residents are aware, the Town of Darien, as well as almost every other municipality in Fairfield County, has been inundated with thefts from motor vehicles over the last six months or more.
In virtually all of the incidents, the vehicles involved have been left unlocked. For quite some time, the Darien Police Department has been diligently asking all residents, through press releases, social media postings and face to face contacts to lock their cars, no matter where or when they are parked.
We ask this once again: the protection of personal property has to be a joint effort between the property owner and law enforcement.
Your police department has been very proactive in trying to quell these thefts through deterrent patrols and various other detection and enforcement measures.
We also ask residents to make immediate notification to the police department if they see suspicious activity or are the victim of a motor vehicle burglary (or any other crime).
In the recent past, we have investigated incidents where residents have seen suspicious individuals in their driveway or their neighborhood or found that their vehicles had been entered in the middle of the night. In these cases, the residents did not contact the police department at the time of their observations.
The probability of apprehending a perpetrator increases significantly if the Police Department receives immediate notification of suspicious activity in the area.
Please remember that we are a professional 24/7/365 operation and are ready to respond to suspicious or potential criminal activity as it is happening or as close in time to the incident as possible.
Jeep Entered on Chestnut Street
Nothing was reported stolen from Jeep parked overnight outside 23 Chestnut St. The owner told police he parked it at about 7 p.m., Saturday night, April 29, and returned to it at about 8:30 p.m. the next night.
He found it had been entered and riffled through. The owner also told police (when he called at 9:47 p.m.) that he found two bicycles left behind on the property, as well as a small flashlight. Police took all three.
[Editor’s note: Police haven’t specifically asked this, but is anyone in your family missing a bicycle? It might help police to know.]
Police asked nearby residents if they’d seen or heard anything suspicious. One neighbor recalled seeing the bicycles on the ground at about 3:30 a.m., Sunday, and saw a “small light” on the side of the road. The light went out as he drove by. Police, who are continuing to investigate, say it’s possible that this is when the Jeep was entered.
Laptop Taken from Car on Deepwood Road
Less than a mile northwest of Chestnut Street, at 41 Deepwood Road, about an hour before midnight on Sunday, a man told police he discovered his 2004 Mercedes Benz had been entered and a backpack with an Apple MacBook laptop in it had been stolen.
He’d arrived home at 10:55 p.m., parking the car outside in his driveway, and at about 11:15 p.m., he heard dogs barking. That’s when he looked out into the driveway and saw the car’s overhead light on.
He checked inside the car and found that the backpack was missing from the front seat. Police were called at 11:59 p.m. and checked the area but found no one suspicious. This investigation is also continuing.
Teenagers on Hollow Tree Ridge Road
At 2:23 a.m., Sunday, police were called by a resident who said there was a suspicious black sedan on Walmsley Road, near Hollow Tree Ridge Road. The resident saw a vehicle pull up and two subjects get inside. The car then drove north on Hollow Tree Ridge Road.
An officer on patrol saw the car abruptly turn left into the driveway of Avalon Darien, which is only about 500 feet north of Walmsley. The officer had the vehicle pull over, and one teenager, who had been sitting in the front passenger seat, fled.
The other two remained in the car and eventually police identified all three — they are Darien residents, ages 17, 16 and 15.
Police say they have no reason to believe any of the three were involved in anything criminal, but their parents were notified and the Youth Division of the department is continuing to look into the matter.
Most recent two months of motor vehicle burglaries in Darien:
- Police Hope Stolen Car Found in Darien May Help Solve Motor Vehicle Burglaries Here (April 19)
- WORSE THAN EVER: 22 Motor Vehicle Burglaries in Darien on Three Nights Last Week (April 18)
- Two Unlocked Cars Stolen Last Week, One Found with GPS; and Five More Vehicles Entered (April 10)
- Here’s Where 3 Unlocked Vehicles Were Recently Entered in Darien, Items Stolen from Two (April 4)
- Multiple Motor Vehicles Entered Overnight in Two Areas of Darien (March 27)
- Sunglasses, iPhone Stolen from Unlocked Car on Sedgwick Ave (March 16)
- Only One Unlocked Car Entered Overnight in Darien As of March 1 — But an Above-Average Haul (March 9)
- Car Stolen on Rocaton Road Last Week Found Monday in Bridgeport (March 1)
- Burglar Gets Through Open Garage Window, Confronted by Resident (March 1)