MONROE, CT — A foreman told police 45 orange cones were stolen from a job site in the 880-block of Main Street (Route 25), according to a complaint made Monday.
The 42-year-old Massachusetts man said construction equipment, including the cones, were removed from the roadway at approximately 6 a.m. on July 28, and the crew came back to continue its roadwork at 7 p.m.
The cones, valued at $55 each, were stolen for a total loss of $2,475. “Feeney Brothers LLC” was displayed on each cone.
There was no video surveillance, witnesses or leads at the time of the report.
Stolen Nissan Murano
A 32-year-old Ripton Road woman told police her gray 2020 Nissan Murano was stolen from her driveway early Tuesday morning.
Police said she woke up that morning and noticed movement in the driveway on her Ring camera at 4:30 a.m., went outside and discovered her Nissan was gone. She called police just after 5 a.m.
The camera, which faced the front of the house, showed a dark colored SUV stop in front of the driveway at 3:43 a.m. Two people wearing light colored hoodies, masks and dark colored pants exited the SUV, approached the vehicles in the driveway, and attempted to open doors, police said.
Entry was gained to two Nissans in the driveway and a third person, wearing a dark colored hoodie and pants, exited the SUV and approached the Nissan Murano. The video pauses and does not capture it leaving the driveway, according to the report.
Police said the stolen Murano was unlocked with a spare key inside.
Later that day, the New Haven Police Department contacted Monroe police detectives at 8:15 a.m. after finding the stolen vehicle abandoned in a Walgreens parking lot on Foxon Boulevard in their city.
Police said there appeared to be damage to the driver’s door and the front, right side of the vehicle, including the front-end bumper and both right side tires and rims.
The Nissan was towed to the Monroe Police Department and processed for evidence, then released to the owners.
The Monroe Police Detective Division is investigating the theft.
Smoking pipes scam
A 58-year-old Monroe man received a private Facebook message from someone he wasn’t Facebook friends with and didn’t know, asking if he was interested in buying tobacco pipes. The message included photos.
Police said he agreed to buy four pipes for a total of $320 and paid the seller via Venmo. He was told he would receive the products in the mail by July 28, but he did not.
He messaged the seller on Facebook and the man told him he couldn’t cover the shipping, because his rent was due.
The seller asked the Monroe man to pay the shipping fee, but he refused. Then he offered to sell him another pipe.
Police said the victim tried to call him on a Facebook app, but the call was declined.
Realizing he had been scammed, he filed a police report about the incident on Tuesday.
Police said $320 had been deducted from the victim’s Chase Bank checking account, but no suspicious activity was found on his accounts.
Police are investigating the incident and officers will apply for a search warrant for the Venmo account the victim sent money to.
Attempt to cash a stolen check
On Tuesday a 70-year-old Monroe woman told police she mailed a $30 check to renew her membership in a retired educators association, sending it from a blue mailbox at the U.S. Post Office on Monroe Turnpike.
A woman on Madison Avenue in Bridgeport emailed her, telling her she received the check and her membership was still active.
But then she received an email from M&T Bank about potential fraud after someone tried to cash an $8,950 check from her account. It was the same check number as the $30 check she sent to the woman for the association, police said.
The check now showed it was payable to man, whose name she was unfamiliar with. Police said the bank did not tell her how he attempted to cash the check — in person or digitally.
She reported the fraud and the bank put a stop on the withdrawal, police said, adding no money was deducted from the account. The woman closed her checking account and transferred her money to a new one.
Police said there was no financial loss or other suspicious activity on her accounts.
The person she had sent the check to was contacted and said she had sent the check back to the Monroe woman from a Post Office box in Fairfield, but the Monroe woman never received the return check.
Police said it is unclear where the check was stolen from.
The case is under investigation by M&T Bank and the Monroe Police Detective Division.
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