MONROE, CT — A 50-year-old Monroe man was charged with DUI Wednesday night after the owner of Marcello’s Italian Eatery, 477 Main St., told officers he appeared to be having an argument with his wife. The couple was asked to leave the restaurant and police were asked to warn them not to return.
Officers arrived at the restaurant close to 11:30 p.m., when the man’s daughter called to say both of her parents were intoxicated and claimed the bartender was inebriated and over-serving customers, as well as her parents. Police said the bartender appeared to be sober and no other customers were present.
The bartender told police she made one or two drinks for the couple, according to the report. The man’s daughter told officers she asked to see her parents’ bill, but it was not shown to her because she was not a customer.
The daughter said her father was sitting in a car in the parking lot and she had taken his keys from him, so he wouldn’t drive.
Officers said he had the strong odor of an alcoholic beverage on his breath, his eyes were glassy and he was unsteady on his feet. He told officers he had four or five drinks, police said.
When officers walked back out to the parking lot, the daughter and her father had already left the scene. A beer bottle was on a light support in the parking lot, police added.
They went to the family’s home in Stepney to talk to the daughter when they observed a car in the driveway. The daughter said her mother was in the back seat. Police said they smelled the heavy odor of an alcoholic beverage and the mother appeared to be heavily intoxicated.
A blue Mazda pulled up next to the police car and the father exited driver’s seat, police said, adding he still appeared to be intoxicated and was slurring his words.
Field sobriety tests were not performed to standard, leading to his arrest for DUI, police said. At the police station he consented to two breath tests, taken 20 minutes apart. His blood alcohol content was 0.173 and 0.169, according to the report.
The legal limit in Connecticut is 0.08.
He was released after posting 10 percent of his $500 bond for an Aug. 11 court date.
Bogus check cashed
An 80-year-old Monroe man told police someone hacked into the profile for his M&T Bank account and changed the phone number, before cashing a bogus $4,500 check at a branch on Fairfield Avenue in Bridgeport, withdrawing the money from the victim’s account.
An officer spoke with the vice president of the Financial Crimes Unit at M&T Bank, who said the suspect, a Black man, about five-foot-seven and 170 pounds, wore a white shirt and used a New York I.D. of another victim when he successfully cashed the counterfeit check.
The case is still under investigation and police said an arrest warrant will be sought.
The Monroe victim put a freeze on his account, opened new accounts with the bank, spoke to the fraud department and contacted the three major credit bureaus about the incident.
Two work computers lost
A Monroe woman who uses two laptop computers, one for each employer, lost both before the computers were stolen on July 25.
She told officers she checked her morning messages at home before leaving to go to the Dunkin’ Donuts’ drive-thru at 695 Main St. for coffee.
She later noticed her computers were missing and retraced her steps. After 90 minutes, she called police on the advice of one of her employers, the report said.
The manager of the business’ IT department tracked the device to an address on Putnam Road in New Milford. Police said this means it could be within a half-mile-radius of the address.
While there is no proof, police said they believe she may have placed the laptops on top of her vehicle and left her driveway, where at some point the computers fell off and were later stolen.
A case number was given to her employers and the officers suggested the victim check with the New Milford Police Department to follow up on the potential location of the laptops.
Branch falls on a Volkswagen Golf
A 43-year-old Shelton driver escaped injury when a tree branch fell onto her blue 2019 Volkswagen Golf in the 90-block of Pepper Street Tuesday afternoon, cracking the windshield and denting the hood.
Police said the incident occurred in the vicinity of Old Newtown Road just before 5 p.m.
The driver and her two passengers were not hurt and she could still drive the Volkswagen, police said, adding she pulled onto a side street to report the accident.
Into the yard, through the woods
An 89-year-old Monroe man told officers he was confused about a turn while driving his blue Lexus RX 350 on Stony Brook Drive at 3 a.m. on July 24, before driving onto a residential property, into the backyard, through the woods, then around to the front yard, into the driveway and back onto the road, according to police.
Police said there was damage to multiple bushes and small trees, but the driver was okay. He was issued a verbal warning for failure to drive in the established lane.
Thieves on the prowl
A Johnson Place resident reported seeing a vehicle driving slowly along the street around 2:31 a.m. on Tuesday, before two occupants got out and walked, while trying to open vehicle doors in the neighborhood. They were gone when officers arrived.
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