CHRISTINA M. ALLEN
WILLIAM T. HENNING
WESTFIELD – A city woman’s jewelry was stolen Monday when her home was broken into but many of her heirloom pieces were recovered in less than 12 hours, thanks to another woman who was apparently targeted by the thieves.
City police report that a 93-year-old Whitaker Road resident called at 4:12 p.m. to report an attempt to break into her home. Det. Brian Freeman reports in a court document that the woman told police that she had ignored two men who came to her front door, assuming them to be salesmen who would go away. However, when she did not answer the front door, the men went to her back door and she soon heard a loud noise from that direction. When she went into her kitchen she found her door was off her hinges and the two men had entered her kitchen,.
The woman told police that the men fled when she started to yell at them and she provided police with the registration number of the Jeep they drove away in.
Later in the evening, a Sunset Drive resident called police, at 6:19 p.m., to report that she came home to find her front door broken open and her property had been disturbed.
After she had a chance to investigate, the victim told police that her antique jewelry, her jewelry box, a laptop computer and antique tools had been stolen. She valued her stolen property at “well over $2,000″.
A 10:25 p.m., in Chicopee, a witness saw two men moving a safe into a house at 14 Abbey Street and found it unusual enough to call the Chicopee police.
Freeman reports that the Chicopee officer who responded, Zachary Smola, saw a Jeep parked at the house and noticed the registration plate. “Smola remembered the license plate from the BOLO (Be On the Lookout) we put out” and kept the vehicle under observation while he called Westfield detectives.
Freeman said later that knowing the registration number of the suspect vehicle was the key to solving the case and lauded the 93-year-old resident who thought quickly and had the presence-of-mind to spot the registration number. He said that it is very unusual for a witness to provide an accurate plate number and without that number the crime would not have been resolved as promptly as it was.
Smola told Freeman that the Jeep was registered to a male party “who has been charged twice for breaking and entering and six times for drug offenses.”
Smola also told Freeman “that 14 Abbey Street is occupied by known thieves and drug addicts” and identified one of the residents as Christina Allen. Allen is a former Westfield resident well known to city police. “She’s got a lot of larceny and drug charges” Freeman said later.
Smola told him “that he knocked on the door at 14 Abbey Street repeatedly but the people turned the light off and refused to answer the door” so Det. Sgt. Stephen Dickinson, Det. James Renaudette and Det. Michael Cekovsky traveled to Chicopee while Freeman stayed in Westfield to seek a warrant.
Freeman reports that Renaudette “could see a plastic bag in an open purse in the back seat off the Jeep that contained gold jewelry” and he was able to photograph the items.
Freeman showed the picture to the Sunset Drive victim who told him “the jewelry in the picture had been given to her by her grandmother and her godmother”.
Once a warrant was secured, it was executed by the officers in Chicopee and three suspects were found in the residence. More jewelry believed to have been stolen from the Sunset Drive house was also found.
One suspect told police “that he drove Christina Allen and William Henning around Westfield today. He stated that they came to Westfield with the intention of breaking into homes.”
Allen “continuously denied any knowledge or involvement” with the theft, Freeman reports.
The officers also found the safe that the two men had reportedly moved into the house.
It had been broken open and was found to contain a large amount of jewelry as well as personal documents suggesting the owners to be a Springfield couple.
Freeman said that those victims had been away and returned to find that their home had been broken into and their safe stolen.
He said that the victims came to Westfield to identify their property but that Springfield police would follow up that crime in their jurisdiction.
Christina M. Allen, 37, 14 Abbey St., Chicopee and William T. Henning, of no known address, were each arrested and charged with two counts of breaking and entering in the daytime with intent to commit a felony and for larceny of property valued more than $1,200.
Freeman said that the third suspect, while not arrested, will be summonsed to court to answer similar charges.
Allen and Henning were each arraigned Tuesday in Westfield District Court. Allen was released on $5,000 personal surety and Henning was held in lieu of $2,500 cash bail.
Both will return to court on Oct. 9 for pretrial hearings.
