Police investigate burglary spree
Published on March 25th, 1998
STONEHAM, MA - Police are investigating a spree of burglaries which has been rampant in town this past week.
Seven incidents of burglary were reported by residents since last Monday, three of which were reported on Monday. These incidents are thought to have some connection with similar burglaries which were reported on Monday in Reading , Woburn and Win-chester.
Woburn police believe that the incidents can be traced to a male and female who had victimized the Lynn area late last year and early this year. The Woburn burglaries took place on Florence Terrace and George Avenue.
Although no definitive description of the couple has been released, the female is believed to have been wearing a Bruins jacket during the heists on Monday and the couple is said to have been travelling from location to location in some kind of commercial vehicle.
Three break-ins were reported by Stoneham residents on Monday.
The first was reported by a Winthrop Street woman who was on the second floor of her residence when she heard a noise. She walked down the stairs and heard footsteps in her cellar. When she reached the cellar, the would-be burglar had already escaped through the door.
Later that day, a West Street man called police and said he had gone out of the house for approximately an hour and a half. When he returned, he told police, he found his belongings strewn throughout his home.
No items could immediately be identified as stolen.
In both incidents, the burglar is believed to have gained entrance to the property through an unlocked opening. In the first incident, the cellar door was left unlocked and, in the second, a basement window was found to be unlocked.
On Wright Street, later on Monday afternoon, a man reported to police that his home had been entered and that, in addition to several other items, four guns had been stolen.
When police arrived at the scene, they found that the basement door had been smashed open and two .22, one .33 and one .40-caliber semi-automatic weapon had been stolen. Also taken from the residence was stereo and computer equipment and binoculars. Rifles and televisions in the home were left untouched.
Police Lieutenant Gregory O'Keefe said that the investigation is still in its early stages and, unless there is a big break, the spree may continue.
"You might be fine for a while and, all of a sudden, you're getting breaks," he said. "They're (the burglars) taking anything and they fence the stuff for next to nothing.
"Unless we can show that these people really had this equipment, we can't prove they did these breaks. More than often, we can't"
O'Keefe also said that residents have to be proactive in defending their homes against such crime.
"Try to stop them from what they're doing to begin with," he said. "I'm from the city so I know to lock things up.
"It just surprises me when people leave their homes unlocked."
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