WESTFIELD – An apparent thief who returned to the scene of her crime has been identified and will be charged.
A Southwick resident came to the station Tuesday to report that her keys had been stolen from her locker while she was at the YMCA of Westfield and, when Officer John Barnachez responded he learned that the thief had apparently used the keys which had been stolen from an unsecured locker to open the trunk of the victim’s car. The woman’s purse had been stolen.
On Thursday, a caller from the Y alerted Det. Todd Edwards that a woman who had recently left had been seen looking into lockers in the locker room and the patrol officers were advised to be on the lookout for the described woman.
Edwards said that a review of security video showed that the same woman had been in the YMCA locker room on both days.
Officer David Racicot spotted a woman who fit the description of the suspect on Bates Street and, when she was returned to the Y, two employees identified her as the woman who had been seen in the locker room that day.
The suspect allowed Edwards to examine her backpack and, although he found some empty heroin packets, neither the keys that had been stolen Tuesday nor any of the contents of the stolen purse were found.
Nothing was reported to have been stolen on Thursday but after speaking with Edwards further, the woman admitted to stealing the purse and he escorted her to her Elm Street apartment where she surrendered some of the stolen items.
Edwards also took her to a site under the Great River Bridge where the woman said that she had thrown the stolen keys into the river.
The suspect waded into the river, Edwards said, in search of the keys and most were recovered. “Not all of them” he said “but we found most of them.”
Edwards said Friday that he had agreed not to lock up the suspect if she cooperated in the recovery of the stolen items but said that a criminal complaint is pending.
He said that the woman was scheduled to return to the police station later in the day to make a formal statement but said that, even if she reneges on her agreement, he already has plenty of evidence to support the charges he will file.
