WESTFIELD – About a half dozen unlocked vehicles were entered – apparently by the same group of thieves – in the Munger Hill area of the city during the early hours of Monday morning. Only two – the ones with the keys inside – were stolen.
A Camelot Lane resident reported to police at 2:28 a.m. Monday that he was awakened by his driveway camera alarm which recorded video showing two persons stealing his white 2014 Range Rover. The vehicle had been unlocked and the key had been in it.
Officer Edward Tosado reported at 2:37 a.m. that he had located the vehicle traveling on Little River Road but the operator refused to stop and instead crossed the bridge to Springfield Road where he accelerated to a speed “well over 100 mph.” Tosado lost sight of the vehicle in West Springfield and was advised to break off the pursuit.
Both West Springfield and Agawam police were alerted and attempted to find and stop the stolen vehicle however the operator evaded spike strips placed in his path by Agawam police and escaped, Westfield police report.
At 3:44 a.m., a Blueberry Ridge resident reported to police that a 2018 Toyota RAV4 utility vehicle he had rented had been stolen some time since he parked it about 8 p.m. The victim reported that the vehicle had been left unlocked and that the key had been left in the center console of the Toyota.
At 7:02 a.m., a Norwood Place resident called police to report that two unlocked vehicles at his home had been entered overnight and the contents had been disturbed. A pair of headphones was stolen from one of the vehicles.
A fourth victim called at 10:37 a.m. to report that four vehicles parked at her home were rummaged through but nothing appeared be missing. That victim said she did not know if the cars had been locked but police found no signs of forcible entry.
Capt. Michael McCabe said Monday morning that the common denominator in the four cases is that the vehicles had been unlocked. In response to a question, he said that he does not understand people who say that they leave their cars unlocked because they don’t want to have their windows broken by thieves trying to get into their car. McCabe said that the vast majority of break-ins occur to unlocked vehicles and called a car break-in by a broken window “an anomaly.”
The four addresses where cars were broken into are within a half mile radius of each other in the Munger Hill neighborhood.
A fifth address in the same neighborhood was apparently also visited by the thieves.
At 10:54 a.m. a Whispering Wind Road resident reported that a vehicle, subsequently found to be the Toyota RAV4 stolen from Blueberry Ridge, had been abandoned near his home. That resident said that at about 2:30 a.m. that morning he had seen two persons leave the Toyota and get into a white vehicle which left the area.
While the Toyota was recovered nearby, the stolen Range Rover was recovered in in Old Lyme, Conn., after four occupants allegedly committed a “strong arm robbery” in a parking lot in Clinton, Conn., according to Connecticut state troopers. Those four youths were arrested for armed robbery.
McCabe said that he believes that organized groups of youths from Connecticut come into a community such as Westfield to steal what they can from unlocked cars and “if they like the vehicle, they take the vehicle too”.
He said the stolen cars may be used briefly for a joy ride and soon abandoned or they may be used in the commission of another crime.
He said that his analysis is buttressed by Connecticut state troopers he has spoken with in connection with the case. A Connecticut State Police supervisor told McCabe that he believes that groups of youths from the central Connecticut area target specific Massachusetts communities to steal from unlocked vehicles. He told McCabe that he believes that, having been successful in one community, a gang may return there weeks later for another spree.
