WESTFIELD – Westfield State University police believe they have identified five men who broke into, or attempted to break into, dozens of vehicles parked in the WSU South Parking Lot in May.
The campus police began to investigate after a victim came to them to report the theft of property from her vehicle while it was parked in the lot and provided a time frame for the theft.
WSU Officer Tyler Moore reports that a review of security video showed that about 2:50 a.m. on May 1 a car followed the university’s shuttle bus into the parking lot but nobody left the vehicle until the shuttle had departed.
Then, Moore reports, “Five black males got out and checked the door handles of cars in that immediate area.”
The video showed the men return to the car, a gray Toyota Camry, which moved to another parking slot in the lot and the men “spread out and checked other vehicles in the area.”
The pattern was repeated, Moore reports. He wrote that, while the officers were not able to identify many of the vehicles the men entered or attempted to enter, at least four specific vehicles which were broken into were identified.
He also reports that the officers were able to read the registration plate on the vehicle the suspects arrived in and they found the vehicle to be owned by Abdullah Abdul-Rahim, 21, of 182 Florida Street.
The next day, Moore reports “(WSU) Officer Coughlin and I (Officer Moore), drove around the Florida Street vicinity of Springfield with Detective Ron Sheehan of the Springfield Police Departement … attempting to find the gray Toyota” and the detective provided information about possible suspects at the 182 Florida St. address.
A few days later, Moore reports, officers contacted a person who had signed in a visitor, Abduttawwab Abdul-Rahim, to one of the university’s residence halls and that witness came to the WSU police department to meet with the officers.
“Witness #1 stated that he did sign them in on May 24th, but then left Abduttawwab at Dickinson Hall. When Witness #1 came back they had left”, Moore reports. When shown a picture of the suspect’s vehicle, “he identified it as being Abduttawwab’s vehicle.” He also recognized the five suspects and identified four of them although he was unsure about the fifth suspect’s name.
Between April 28 and May 7, seven victims reported that their vehicles had been broken into, six in the South Parking Lot and one while parked on Davis Road.
Nothing was taken from one of the vehicles, although the contents were disturbed, but the other victims reported that a GPS device and cord, an iPod Touch, an iPod Nano, a cellphone charger, “an expensive black car charger”, a chrome flashlight and cash were reported to have been stolen from the other five cars.
Moore reports that four of the men identified by the witness “are being charged with multiple counts of breaking and entering into a motor vehicle” and the fifth man “would be charged but his information cannot be found at this time.”
Mikhal Asad, 22, of 105 Thompson St., Springfield, was arraigned Friday in Westfield District Court on four charges of breaking and entering with intent to commit a misdemeanor, three charges of larceny of property valued less than $250, two charges of larceny of property valued more than $250 and two charges of breaking and entering a vehicle in the nighttime with intent to commit a felony.
Abdullah I. Abdul-Rahim, 21, and Abduttawwab Abdul-Rahim, 28, both of 182 Florida St., Springfield, were arraigned on the same charges on Aug. 7.
All three defendants were released on their personal recognizance and are scheduled to return to court on Oct. 2.
