MONROE, CT — A 24-year-old Monroe man met a woman online and started speaking with her with the possibility of a relationship. She told him she needed to borrow $16,000 to start her own business and would pay him $32,000 in return if he lent her the money.
Police said he gave her approximately $16,500 via Bitcoin, before she ghosted him.
The victim filed a complaint with police on Friday. An officer called the phone number the man had for the woman, which was a Google subscriber number with an 815 area code for Illinois, but police said it turned out to be a spoofed phone number.
Police are investigating the case.
Thousands in construction materials stolen
An estimated $10,000 worth of materials were reported stolen from the site of an Aquarion Water Co. water line project on Pastors Walk Monday.
The materials were delivered on Oct. 26 and were last seen on Oct. 28. Police said an employee discovered it was missing around noon on Sunday.
The project manager reported that eight 100-foot-rolls of one-inch-copper-tubing was stolen, along with 52 copper valves and various brass/copper fittings.
Police are investigating the theft.
It was a goose blaster
Police received a noise complaint from a woman Friday afternoon, who said she heard three gunshots near the third hole of Whitney Farms Golf Course on Shelton Road.
The owner of the golf course told police that a goose blaster was used three times on hole three. Police said a goose blaster is an airgun that scares off birds with a loud noise, but does not shoot projectiles.
The incident was reported just before 3 p.m.
DUI on Route 59
A 56-year-old Easton man was charged with DUI following a traffic stop on Route 59, near Stanley Road, Saturday night.
At approximately 7:02 p.m., an officer on patrol saw a blue Chevrolet Monte Carlo in the 400-block of Main Street that had stopped in the north lane. When she pulled behind the vehicle, it accelerated forward, police said.
The officer observed the Monte Carlo drift from the north lane to the right-turn-lane at the intersection with Pepper Street and straddle the fog line, while continuing north on Route 25. The vehicle turned left onto Route 59 and crossed over the double-yellow center line and into the lane for oncoming traffic, police said.
The officer stopped the Monte Carlo and as she approached the vehicle she saw the driver raise his right hand with an open, clear bottle with red labels, according to the report.
Police said the driver spoke with a slurred speed and was inaudible at times, adding he was not able to provide the proper paperwork when instructed by the officer. He also thought it was 9 p.m., when the time was closer to 7 p.m., police said.
The man’s eyes were glossy and bloodshot and there was a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage on his breath, the report said. Police said the driver did not perform field sobriety tests to standard, leading to his arrest.
He was also charged with failure to drive in the proper lane and released on $500 bond for a Nov. 7 court date.
Scammer wants a Playstation
A 67-year-old Monroe man placed a $31.89 order on Amazon.com using his wife’s credit card and called Amazon to update his phone number Sunday afternoon, when the call was intercepted by a third-party scammer, according to police.
The phony customer service representative transferred his call to someone claiming to be a manager. The “manager” told him to go to CVS Pharmacy, buy a $100 Playstation gift card, take a photo of the number on the back and forward it to him.
CVS did not have a $100 gift card, so the man went to Rite-Aid, then Stop & Shop, where a store employee told him it was a scam and that he should end his phone call.
The Monroe man told the caller he was going to the police station.
Police said the victim’s wife called her credit card company and placed a hold on her card and that the couple contacted their bank and will monitor their credit. There does not appear to be any financial loss, police said.
Stolen Red Bull
Stop & Shop loss prevention reported the theft of $98 worth of Red Bull energy drink from the store at 470 Monroe Turnpike Friday.
Video surveillance footage from 11:41 a.m. the previous day showed a male, approximately six-feet-tall with a medium build and a tan complexion, wearing dark pants, a dark hooded sweatshirt and a dark hat with a white logo, enter the store with a few reusable bags, put four packs of Red Bull cans into one, and leave without paying, police said.
The suspect left in a gray Nissan Maxima. Someone got a plate number, but police found that it belonged to a different vehicle.
The theft is under investigation.
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