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6-18-2023 4:02am
3 Incidents in 2 Weeks of Suspicious Individual(s) Breaking and Entering Westwood Businesses
Darlene Cancell
Editor
In the past few weeks, three Westwood businesses have reported suspicious entry by a single, unknown individual into the stores outside of business hours, and a theft that appears to be connected to one of the three entries. It is unknown whether the unauthorized entries were made by the same individual or by different individuals.
On May 27, 2023, a GNC employee reported to Westwood Police that upon opening the University Station store that morning, the employee noticed that the store’s safe was empty. About $400 had been locked up overnight and another two bank deposit bags were missing, totaling $778.03 missing. There were no signs of forced entry.
A follow-up investigation on June 7th documented that the store’s counting device, mounted near the GNC door, detected someone entering the store in the timeframe between store closure and the morning that the theft was discovered. Security video showed a tall individual wearing a hoodie in the general area of the GNC front door on May 26th, around 9:13 p.m., the time around which the after-hours entry was detected. This case is under investigation.
A second incident occurred at the new J. Crew Factory Store at University Station on May 29th. Police were called to the location shortly after 8:30 p.m., on the report of a male entering the rear of the store, after the store had closed. The manager reported hearing the rear door alarm sound off, but did not see anyone enter. The manager reported opening the back door to check outside. Finding no one, the manager went back inside the store and encountered a man wearing a mask and dressed in a grey sweatshirt with jeans. The masked man ran past him, and fled out the rear door.
Security video captured footage of the man as he entered the store through the rear door. He was seen placing an item in his pocket, which is thought to be a key to unlock the door. At the time Westwood Minute
spoke to Westwood Police in early June, the store had not yet determined whether any merchandise was missing.
A third incident occurred on the morning of June 9th, when the owner of Busy Paws Pet Supply in Islington informed police that the store’s alarm system indicated that someone had entered the store before it was open for business. The store owner was able to view security footage which showed a tall (approximate 6 foot tall) white man wearing a ball cap and long shorts inside the store around 6:48 a.m. The man was inside for less than 5 minutes before he departed through the back door. The store was otherwise undisturbed, and no money appeared to be missing. Police have spoken with the landlord about changing locks on the door and changing alarm codes.
