WESTFIELD – Although it took more than six months, the tenacious work of a city detective has resulted in the arrest and arraignment of a former city resident who allegedly stole his neighbors’ jewelry to support his heroin habit.
Det. Brian Freeman reports that in October of 2013 he investigated reports by two residents of a Russell Road condominium complex who both had discovered that a significant amount of jewelry had been stolen.
Freeman found that both cases were similar in that, not only do both victims live in the same unit at the complex, in neither case was there any sign of forcible entry. In a document filed in Westfield District Court, Freeman reports that in both cases “the crime went unnoticed because the suspect did not make a mess, he placed things back where he found them, he only stole select items and left other items behind.”
The “select items” which were stolen were the better pieces of jewelry. Coincidentally, the monetary value of the jewelry the women lost was very similar with one victim losing items with a total value of $2,875 while the other victim’s loss totaled $2,850.
Freeman explained that the burgled residences are two of four apartments which share common hallways and common outer doors (which are kept locked) and said that he learned that the residents often leave the doors to their individual apartments unlocked while they are away for brief periods such as trips to the laundry room.
He learned that there are seven persons who have keys to the locked outer doors including the landlord, a longtime maintenance worker, the four tenants and the son of one of the tenants, Zachary R Bruneau 25, of 627 Randall Road, Ludlow, who had been living with his father at the time of the thefts.
The landlord told Freeman that he believed Bruneau was responsible for the thefts as he had stolen from a third apartment in the unit in 2008 and the resident of that apartment told Freeman that he too believes Bruneau was responsible for the recent thefts.
The tenant told Freeman that he had spoke previously with Bruneau’s father about his son’s drug problem and said that, on one of the days which jewelry was apparently stolen from the apartment above his, he heard footsteps in the apartment. He said he knew that they were not those of his neighbor who, he said, “is light on her feet and makes little noise” but said he had not known that the woman was away for the weekend.
The man said that he knew nobody left the unit after the footsteps stopped because he had spent most of that day on his couch and “would have heard the person leave if they had gone down either stairway.”
When Freeman spoke with Bruneau’s father the man said “that he knows his son, Zachary, committed these crimes.”
He told Freeman that he confronted his son who did not admit to the crimes but “apologized for putting him in a bad position with the neighbors and the landlord” and agreed to leave “so that he wouldn’t cause anymore stress” for his father.
He said that he has tried to help his son with his heroin addiction for 15 years and said “Zack is capable of anything when he needs drugs.”
Bruneau’s father said that his son never admitted to stealing from his neighbors but said that his son made statements which he interpreted to mean “his son was saying that he was smart enough not to get caught for this.”
Freeman found himself in a similar situation when he spoke with the suspect by phone.
Although the man did not admit to the crimes, he did say that he knew the detective would not be able to recover the stolen jewelry and said “you are not going to find my name at the pawn shops so you have no case.”
Freeman reports that Det. Kevin Swords, while investigating the 2008 burglary at the same condominium building, did find Bruneau’s name at a pawn shop.
The detective said that, after he spoke with Bruneau by phone, he was unable to locate him.
He reports he spoke with some of the ‘friends’ listed on his social networking web page but found that the persons he spoke with said that they were no longer his ‘friends’, either because he stole from them or because they were angry that he stole from mutual friends.
Bruneau stayed at liberty until Freeman learned that he was at a Klondike Avenue address in February and, having learned that he was the subject of an outstanding warrant, he was arrested there.
Freeman completed his investigation in March and filed a criminal complaint which brought Bruneau to Westfield District Court before Judge Thomas Estes June 5 for arraignment on three charges of breaking and entering a building in the daytime with intent to commit a felony and three charges of larceny of property valued more than $250 which were brought as two cases.
In each case, Bruneau was held in lieu of $1,000 cash bail pending an Aug. 7 hearing.
