42° and Clear
Image
3-26-2024 12:50am
Westwood Police Arrest Three Suspects Following String of Thefts from Life Time Fitness Gym Lockers
Darlene Cancell
Editor
Westwood Police arrested three individuals in the parking lot of Westwood’s Life Time Fitness on the morning of March 19, 2024, following multiple thefts of wallets, credit cards, and cash from the gym's locker rooms earlier this year as well as over the previous two weeks.
Around 10:45 a.m. last Tuesday, a Life Time Fitness employee alerted police to two men and two women who were acting suspiciously inside the facility. The two men were observed entering the men’s locker room. Around the same time, the two women were observed entering the women’s locker room. One woman was wearing a disguise. Additional specifics regarding what raised the employee’s suspicions were not provided. The employee believed that the individuals were involved in the recent thefts of wallets from Life Time Fitness lockers.
Police responded and located three of the four suspicious individuals, a man and two women. One individual was in the parking lot while another two individuals were walking outside. The fourth individual, a man, eluded police.
Police arrested the three suspects in the Life Time Fitness parking lot. All three were charged with the same offenses: 1) attempt to commit the crime of breaking and entering a repository; 2) conspiracy; and 3) witness interference and obstruction of justice.
Westwood Police Lieutenant Christopher Sheehy notes that obtaining identification of the three suspects was difficult. Two of them did not appear to have a physical address in the United States. Police were able to identify the detained male suspect as a 43 year-old Romanian national with no known address, one detained female suspect as a 38 year-old Romanian national with no known address, and the other detained female suspect as a 30 year-old who claimed an address on 64th Street in Flushing, New York.
The three suspects were held overnight on $10,000 cash bail, each. The following day, at Dedham District Court, a judge increased bail for two of the suspects to $25,000 each. The two Romanian nationals were subject to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainers, as police discovered that they may be in the United States illegally and may have upcoming removal hearings.
Get up to date in a minute. Read Westwood Minute. Subscribe!
Police note that Life Time Fitness officials believe these individuals may be responsible not only for recent locker room thefts at Westwood’s Life Time Fitness, but also similar thefts at other Life Time Fitness locations.
Westwood Minute has previously reported on multiple thefts from the Life Time Fitness locker rooms that have occurred this year and prior to this year. In 2024, Westwood Minute has reported the following locker room thefts:
- On March 16, just three days prior to these recent arrests, Westwood Police received three separate reports of thefts from the Life Time Fitness Westwood men’s locker room. A Westwood resident reported his wallet containing $300 cash and credit cards was stolen, and an attempt to fraudulently charge almost $16,000 at Long’s Jewelers was unsuccessful. A Norwood resident reported that his wallet containing two credit cards was stolen, and that someone had unsuccessfully attempted a fraudulent charge of $15,500 at Long's Jewelers. Additionally, a Dedham resident’s wallet was stolen while he was working out in the morning. The wallet contained $280 in cash, along with credit card(s) and other items. Later that day, someone attempted to charge $16,000 to the victim’s credit card at Long’s Jewelers. The transaction was denied.
- On March 7, a Walpole resident had two credit cards stolen from her purse in her locker in the Life Time Fitness women’s locker room, but she was able to cancel the cards before noticing any suspicious charges. Around the same time, a Milton resident reported that her $2,000 Gucci pocketbook was missing from her Life Time Fitness locker. The pocketbook contained credit cards and $60 cash, among other items. Also missing from the victim’s locker were a $500 Louis Vuitton makeup bag, Gucci coin purse worth $250, earbuds worth $75, an iPhone valued at $1,200, and a set of keys. The total value of items stolen was estimated to be over $4,000. Later, the Milton resident also reported unsuccessful attempts at making purchases with her stolen credit card at a Walmart in Quincy and a Best Buy.
- On March 6, a Medfield resident reported a theft from her Life Time Fitness Westwood locker of a black Calvin Klein jacket, a Honda key fob, and black Lululemon lanyard, totaling about $340.
- In January, there were two separate incidents of credit card thefts from the men’s locker room of Westwood’s Life Time Fitness, in which a total of about $8,000 in fraudulent credit card transactions were attempted but denied.
Thefts from Life Time Fitness locker rooms, and lockers in other gyms, has been an ongoing problem, according to Lieutenant Sheehy. The lieutenant previously has noted that thieves have discovered a weakness in gym lockers and have learned to exploit it, not just at Life Time Fitness gyms, but elsewhere as well.
Thanks to Lieutenant Christopher Sheehy and Westwood Police for contributing information for this article.
Updated 3/30/2024 at 9:38 p.m.
