Police Investigate Thefts

From Vehicles

Police are investigating ten reported cases of theft of small valuable items from motor vehicles that occurred early on the morning of March 11 in some neighborhoods off the west side of South Main Street.

In the incidents, someone simply opened unlocked motor vehicles, which were parked outdoors near homes, and stole small valuable items from within, said police Sergeant Douglas Wisentaner. Items taken included cash and a satellite radio.

Police received reports concerning three thefts on Dogwood Terrace, three on Appleblossom Lane, three on Bonnie Brae Drive, and one on Cedar Hill Road.

The thefts did not require forced entry into the vehicles because the vehicles were left unlocked by their owners, the sergeant said.

Sgt Wisentaner urged that residents keep their vehicles locked wherever they may be parked. If it is necessary to keep valuable items within a vehicle, those items should be kept out of plain sight, such as in the trunk or beneath a car seat, he said.

Last year, police investigated about 65 thefts of small valuable items from motor vehicles in Sandy Hook. Four people eventually were arrested in those cases, three of whom were under age 18 and thus not identified by police.

The fourth person arrested as a result of those 2008 investigations, Gregory Goodkowsky, 21, of Longmeadow, Mass., was charged last December with one count of fifth-degree larceny. His case is pending in Danbury Superior Court.

Police ask anyone with information about the thefts that occurred on March 11 to contact investigating Officer William Chapman at 426-5841 or william.chapman@newtown-ct.gov.

Similar thefts from unlocked vehicles also were reported to have occurred in Bethel overnight on March 10-11.