PAUL A. GRANT
WESTFIELD – One of two brothers, the elder, arrested for stealing thousands of dollars in cash from a neighbor has had his day in court and was ordered to pay more than $12,000 in restitution, within a year.
He was also ordered to write a “sincere letter of apology to the victim.”
Paul A. Grant, 20, 141 Bates Road, was arrested with his younger brother in December, 2013, and accused of breaking into a neighbor’s house repeatedly in 2011 (when they were 15 and 17 years-old) and stealing about $12,000 in hundred dollar bills found in their neighbor’s desk.
The crime was originally reported in the summer of 2011 but the investigation stalled until it was assigned to Det. Sgt. Steven Dickinson in November, 2012, after he took command of the evening detective squad at the Westfield Police Department.
His investigation found that Grant’s sister had been employed by their neighbors to care for their pets when they went away and had access to a house key.
When interviewed by Dickinson, the young woman said that she had occasionally been unable to care for the animals and she had asked her brother Paul to fill in for her, telling him where to find the key to the house.
She specifically denied asking their younger brother for help but said that she believed he knew where the key was kept.
Dickinson and the detectives under his command found occasion to discuss the two boys with a number of their friends and peers during the course of their duties and learned that they had a seemingly limitless supply of $100 bills.
Information from several associates of the boys painted a picture of two freespending boys who were willing to pay for many luxuries – from video games to narcotics and more – for themselves and their friends. One of those interviewed said that the younger brother “ordered $100 of Dominos pizza, purchased marijuana, cocaine, mushrooms, molly, ecstasy, pills, percosets, clothing and sneakers.”
Another young man said that the younger brother seemed to be the paymaster and said “if Paul Grant wanted something he would ask his brother to get it or they would purchase it together.”
Several of the brothers’ friends and associates told police interviewers that they knew that the boys had stolen the $100 bills and at least one said that the younger brother had directly told him that he and his brother had stolen the money from a neighbor.
Both boys were arrested in December, 2013, about two and a half months before the younger brother’s 18th birthday.
He was arraigned in Holyoke Juvenile Court where the proceedings are not public record.
Paul Grant was arraigned in Westfield District Court and, on Thursday, appeared before Judge William Rota when he admitted to facts sufficient to warrant guilty findings for charges of breaking and entering a building in the nighttime with intent to commit a felony, larceny of property valued more than $250 and conspiracy.
The charges were continued without a finding with probation for one year. He was assessed $90 and ordered to pay restitution (due by Oct. 23, 2015) in the amount of $12,240.
His terms of probation require that he have no contact with the victims and that he stay at least 10 yards away from them. In addition, he was ordered to write a sincere letter of apology to them.
Rota also ordered that Grant remain drug and alcohol free and be subject to random testing while on probation.
If Grant does not violate probation, no guilty finding will be entered on his record.
