34° and Mist
Image
Image by Westwood Minute/Darlene Wong Cancell.
4-07-2025 12:05am
Police Log: Switching Price Tags to Save Hundreds, Unwanted Camper, and Other Stories
Darlene Cancell
Editor
The news described in this installment of Westwood Minute's weekly Police Log article series is primarily based on selected incidents from the Westwood Police Department's daily log, and information provided by Detective Lieutenant Christopher Aylward and police staff through written records and conversations. Occasionally, Westwood Minute may weave a few facts that it obtains from other sources into these stories.
Monday, March 31st
Make Way for Duck
8:52 a.m. A caller reported that a duck or goose was sitting on the yellow line in the street, near the intersection of Downey Street and Canton Street. The goose was gone upon police arrival.
Sunday, March 30th
Switching Price Tags to Save Hundreds of Dollars
7:31 p.m. Police responded to the Target store on University Avenue where a woman from Norwood was observed switching price tags. She was observed placing a $31 price tag from a Stanley water bottle onto a $700 coffee maker. At the self-checkout, the woman paid $31 for the coffee maker instead of its true price. She was stopped by the store’s asset protection staff and has been summoned for shoplifting.
Friday, March 28th
Shoplifting Suspect Bags Items, Walks Out
11:37 a.m. Police received a report from the Target store on University Avenue that a female suspect, believed to be linked to five previous incidents of shoplifting at the store, was suspected of shoplifting on March 27th. She was seen grabbing the store’s plastic bags from an unattended checkout, then moving through the store and placing $400 worth of merchandise into the bags and walking out of the store without paying. The merchandise consisted mainly of baby items and clothing. She has been identified as a resident of Stoughton.
Unwanted Camper
6:59 p.m. A caller from the 1600 block of High Street told police that blankets and a pillow were found on the residential property.
Unfamiliar Van is WGBH
7:47 p.m. A caller from Carroll Avenue complained of an unfamiliar white van that was parked nearby for several hours. Police investigated and discovered that the van belonged to employees of the non-profit company, WGBH, who were going door-to-door for fundraising.
Thursday, March 27th
Hit-and-Run Inside Parking Garage
3:56 p.m. A resident of Gables University Station apartments reported that his 2016 Subaru Legacy was struck while it was parked in the garage overnight. No note was left. The impact left scrapes, paint transfer, and a dent to the front of the vehicle.
Harassing Calls
4:13 p.m. Police received a report that a resident of Sharon, MA had argued online with a resident of Bronx, NY over a discussion on the social media platform, Threads. The New York resident called Hale Education in Westwood where the Sharon resident was employed, and complained about the Sharon resident, alleging that threats had been made. The Sharon resident contacted Westwood Police, upset that he was receiving such calls at work.
Protective Custody Arrest of Man Under the Influence
5:41 p.m. Police received a call from a business on Providence Highway, when employees discovered a man sleeping in a vehicle in the store’s parking lot. Despite employee attempts to rouse him, the man continued sleeping for about 2.5 hours. When police arrived, officers also had trouble waking up the man. Police determined that the man, a resident of Dedham, appeared to be under the influence of a narcotic, and placed him into protective custody to transport him to the hospital for treatment. Prescription drugs that were found in his car were seized. They were returned when he was able to provide proof of the prescription.
Stay in the loop with Westwood Minute. Subscribe!
Third Time’s the Charm
9:12 p.m. Police noticed that a blue, 2007 Nissan Altima was driving on University Avenue without headlights activated. Police attempted to pull the vehicle over. The driver, a woman from Stoughton, did stop her car briefly, but then drove away. Police attempted to stop the car again. The driver again pulled over, but again resumed driving after the brief stop. Finally, on a third try, police successfully pulled over the driver on Canton Street. The woman claimed that she thought the officer was pursuing someone else, as she was not speeding. Police cited the woman for driving without headlights and for failing to stop for a police officer.
Wednesday, March 26th
Suspicious Package Delivery
2:27 p.m. An employee of the Courtyard Marriott on University Avenue called police regarding a suspicious package delivery. The item being delivered was believed to have been fraudulently purchased by identity theft, with the hotel being designated as the delivery address for the perpetrator to pick up the package.
A resident of Springfield showed up to collect a package. However, when police arrived, the suspect claimed that the suspect was expecting to pick up a different package. The suspect left without claiming any package.
Tuesday, March 25th
Traffic Violation Arrest on Providence Highway
5:06 p.m. An officer conducting stationary traffic enforcement performed a random query on a red Honda Pilot and learned the owner had a warrant for his arrest stemming from a citation for operating a motor vehicle on a suspended license. The officer made the stop of the vehicle at Providence Highway and Glacier Drive. The driver, a Canton resident, was cooperative, and the arrest was made without incident.
Monday, March 24th
Breaking and Entering a Storage Unit
11:40 a.m. Police received a report of a storage unit on Allied Drive being broken into. Two laptops were reported stolen, worth a combined total of about $3,000.
Electric Bicycles Missing from Common Storage Area
3:17 p.m. Two residents of Gables University Station apartments reported that two electric bicycles were missing from the common storage area used by apartment residents. The bikes had been placed in storage last year in July. In March 2025, the residents noticed the bikes missing as they prepared to make a move. The estimated values of the missing bicycles are over $1,000 and about $500.
Letting Go after Threatening Harm
4:56 p.m. A Westwood resident complained of a threat made by a business associate. The resident had hired a company based in Illinois to take drone photos of a facility in Illinois, but found the photos were “subpar” and possibly unusable. The resident and the business had a dispute over a $200 payment, and the business contact wrote a message to the resident stating, “Continue to play with people like this and I wouldn’t be surprised if you ended up with a bullet in your head.” After police spoke with both parties, the Illinois business contact told police that he would “let it go.”
Thanks to Detective Lieutenant Christopher Aylward and the Westwood Police Department for contributing information for this Westwood Minute article.
