MONROE, CT — A 42-year-old Hartford man was served a warrant by Monroe detectives at court in Bridgeport on June 16, with charges stemming from the theft of a 2012 Honda Pilot from a Belle Vale Street residence on Sept. 1, 2020.
Police said DNA evidence helped investigators identify Jose DeJesus, of 12 Kibbe St., who is currently being held at the Hartford Correctional Center on unrelated charges, as a suspect.
He was charged with third degree larceny and first degree criminal mischief and held on $25,000 bond. DeJesus was then turned back over to the marshals.
Man looks out window, stops theft
A man looked out a window of his Aspetuck Lane home Sunday afternoon and saw a male dressed in a gray sweatshirt and a black ski mask attempting to enter his vehicle in the driveway, according to police.
When the masked man saw the resident watching him, he ran to a gray Porsche SUV parked in front of the residence with a passenger door left open and the vehicle fled the scene, heading toward Cutlers Farm Road.
Officers responding to the 4:22 p.m. call checked the area and spotted the SUV being followed by a black Toyota SUV. Police said the drivers appeared to be working together, because both vehicles ran a red light when they saw a police officer turn his vehicle around.
The officer caught up to both vehicles in the area of 477 Main St., but when he activated his lights and siren to initiate a traffic stop, both drivers accelerated at a high rate of speed and started using the south lane to pass other vehicles heading north, according to the report.
Police said the officer immediately ended the pursuit, turning off his lights and siren and following regular traffic for the safety of other drivers.
As he approached 720 Main St. the officer saw the black Toyota SUV in the middle of the north lane with its doors open, police said, adding it was unoccupied. The officer secured the vehicle, which was towed from the scene.
Police later determined the 2021 Toyota Venza LE was stolen from a residence in Easton, but had not yet been entered into the system as a stolen vehicle. Monroe police notified the Easton Police Department that their officers found the SUV.
Officers identified the second vehicle, which the thieves got away in, as a gray 2016 Porsche Cayenne reported stolen out of Ridgefield.
On Wednesday, police said it was unclear if any Monroe vehicles, other than the one on Aspetuck Lane, were entered on Sunday.
Stolen cooking oil
Buffalo Biodiesel told police someone stole $2,362 worth of used cooking oil from a holding tank behind Peking Tokyo, 535 Monroe Turnpike, according to a complaint made on Monday afternoon.
A driver for Buffalo Biodiesel, which recycles waste oil, went to pick up oil from its customer, Peking Tokyo, when he noticed the lock to the holding tank had been removed and was on the ground behind it, police said.
The tank was supposed to be full, but appeared to be only three-quarters full, the report said.
Police said the theft occurred sometime between April 14 and June 19, adding there is no surveillance video nor witnesses.
Green giant trees
An employee from TLC Wholesale Nursery, 724 Main St., told police someone used stolen credit cards over the phone to order 16 green giant trees, which are eight feet tall, for $6,721 on June 14.
Two males arrived in a rented box truck to pick up the trees, but later in the day a man called the business to say his credit card was fraudulently used at TLC Landscaping for the purchase, which he did not authorize.
The complaint, which was made on June 16, was referred to the Detective Division for further investigation.
Identity thieves target finances, Facebook
A Monroe woman told police she and her husband were on vacation in the Carolinas on June 13 when she was notified 12 attempts were made to use her credit card at a specialty shop in Utah.
She told her bank she did not make the purchases and her cards were cancelled, but the couple’s nightmare wasn’t over.
When they returned home it appeared someone had hacked into her husband’s cellphone, which received a series of texts that made no sense and included a link to a real estate website for a home in Florida.
Her husband checked his email account and noticed emails from his retirement fund were open and appeared to have been read, police said.
On June 16, the woman received an email from Facebook informing her that a new email and password was added to her account and that the user logged into the account with the new email. The user had an IP address near Scottsdale, Ariz.
She reported the fraudulent account to Facebook, police said, adding she suffered no financial loss at this time.
The victim also added credit monitoring software to monitor her accounts, and was advised to contact the three major credit bureaus to monitor her cards and financial accounts.
Police said a follow up on the IP and email address added to the Facebook account showed no matches.
Chainsaw theft
An L&R Power Equipment employee told police a woman stole a $1,079 Stihl chainsaw from the store at 122 Main St. on Monday.
At approximately 4:08 p.m., the employee told officers the woman came into the store, picked up the saw and left without paying when another employee went to the back room.
Surveillance video showed the suspect was a White female with blonde hair, wearing a green sweatshirt with an Ireland logo on the front, gray Nike sweatpants and white sandals. She was carrying a large tan purse.
Police said she appeared to be five-feet-five-inches tall and about 200 pounds. Her left eyebrow was pierced.
The case is being investigated by the Monroe Police Detective Division.
Shoplifting at Stop & Shop
The loss prevention department at Stop & Shop, 470 Monroe Turnpike, told police two suspects stole 10 orange Tide Pods and other groceries for a total of $284 on Monday morning.
At around 11:20 a.m., a White male wearing a black T-shirt, a camouflage baseball hat, camouflage cargo shorts, and a small black cross-body bag, committed the theft with a White female with red hair, wearing a pink strapless top, light blue shorts and black glasses.
The duo left in a white sedan, but no one got the license plate number, police said. The case is being investigation by the Monroe Police Detective Division.
Juvenile arrest
A 16-year-old male juvenile allegedly punched his mother in the head and arms and threatened her during an argument at their Monroe home June 16.
He was charged with third-degree assault, second-degree threatening, second-degree criminal mischief and disorderly conduct and remanded to custody in a juvenile detention center in Bridgeport, police said.
Unemployment scams
Police received three complaints of fraudulent filings for unemployment benefits from the Connecticut Department of Labor within the last week.
