Police get break in theft case
Published on September 23rd, 1998
STONEHAM, MA - Local commercial vehicle owners can breathe a little easier today thanks to the arrest of an individual believed to have been involved in a number of local robberies.
According to Stoneham police reports, at least five break-ins occurred this past week to commercial vehicles and, over the past few weeks, several others had been reported.
Inspector George Alger told the Independent that, as in years past, a lengthy string of thefts to commercial vehicles has been put together in Stoneham and surrounding communities. The arrest which was made in Peobody on Saturday takes care of at least one suspect for the time being, he said.
"We've got our fingers crossed as far as the van thefts go, but there's a gang of these guys, we hear, so we really don't know," Alger said on Tuesday.
Break-ins had been reported on Franklin, North and Summer streets, among others in recent weeks and the similarities of the robberies, Alger said, were apparent to police. In nearly all of the incidents, suspects entered vans containing various trade tools such as electrical saws and drills. Access, police say, was usually gained through a rear window.
Last Wednesday morning, police received three calls from Stoneham residents reporting similar thefts.
At 5:56 am, police received a call from a Brookbridge Road resident. When officers arrived at the scene and spoke to the owner of a 1997 Ford van, he told them that several tools had been taken.
In the ensuing investigation, police discovered that a Brookbridge Road resident had seen a white car without its lights on in the area at about 4:30 am. Police were able to determine that, earlier in the morning, the thieves had attempted to break into a vehicle on Brookbridge, but were unsuccessful. They then stole a white Chevrolet from an abutting home and traveled farther up the roadway, robbing another resident of over $6,000 in tools from his vehicle and garage, Alger said.
"These guys are brazen," he said. "They'll take anything. It takes a lot of time (to rob the vans).
"They take a lot of tools and they go everywhere."
At 6:26 am, a similar incident was reported at a Cedarway address. Several items were taken from the 1998 Ford E250.
At 7:48 am, a Summer Street resident also called police to report a break into his 1987 Chevrolet van with similar items stolen.
The spree picked up again on Thursday night, police discovered, when calls from Thomas Circle and Eustis Street residents were received with similar outcomes on Friday morning.
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