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11-17-2021 10:26pm
Police Log: Thief Goes on High End Shopping Spree, Can't Cash Out of Cryptocurrency and More
Darlene Cancell
Editor
Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay
The news described in Westwood Minute’s Police Log article is primarily based on selected information from the Westwood Police Department’s daily log and information provided by Lieutenant Christopher Sheehy and police staff. Occasionally, a few facts from other sources may be woven into these stories.
Thursday, November 4, 2021
Locker room thief gains two Rolex watches
6:30 p.m. Westwood Police responded to a residence on Phillips Brooks Road where a Westwood man reported that someone had made purchases totaling almost $50,000Â after stealing three credit or debit cards from his wallet earlier that day. The man had stored his wallet in a locker at Lifetime Fitness while working out. One card was used to make a purchase of $24,000 at the Tourneau Copley Place store on Huntington Avenue in Boston. A second card was used to make a $21,450 purchase at the same store. The items were Rolex watches for a man and woman. A third attempt to make a $4,000 purchase at the Valentino store on Newberry Street in Boston was declined. Police are investigating.
Monday, November 8, 2021
Double-dipping?
10:14 a.m. Residents of Oak Street reported to police that two checks had each been cashed twice. In October, the residents had paid for a contractor’s services with two personal checks. They recently learned those checks, totaling $2,900, had been cashed a second time. They filed a report of fraud with their bank.
Scam targeting elderly woman aborted
12:41 p.m. Santander Bank on High Street alerted police that an elderly customer was trying to withdraw a large sum. A detective who was in the area went to the bank and learned that the elderly woman had been given directions to withdraw money by a seller from eBay. Earlier, the elderly Westwood resident had attempted to buy a phone case on Amazon. When it did not arrive, she contacted the seller who was identified as an eBay seller. The seller told the woman that her bank account had been hacked and that she needed to withdraw all of her money. The Westwood Police detective contacted the seller, whose number was stored on the woman’s phone. The scammer disconnected the call after the detective identified himself. Attempts to trace the call were unsuccessful.
Photo by Tara Winstead from Pexels
In the right place at the right time
3:27 p.m. Westwood Police’s K-9 officer was driving home after duty when he observed several police officers in the parking lot of Eastern Bank at 45 Main Street in Lakeville. The officer pulled into the lot and was informed that a bank robbery had just occurred. The male suspect had fled on foot. The K-9 officer attempted to track the man with Duke the dog. Duke and his handler when through brush and across the properties of several closed or abandoned businesses. The track came to an end at the rear of an abandoned restaurant where the K-9 officer found fresh tire tracks. Police believe the suspect fled on foot to a waiting car. An additional K-9 search was conducted to look for discarded clothing, but none was found.
November 9, 2021
A safe escort
2:56 p.m. Police escorted a female employee of Eversource to her vehicle in the parking lot of Eversource on Station Drive, at her request. She was having issues with a co-worker. The issues are being addressed by company management.
Thursday, November 11, 2021
No lights or license
5:05 p.m. At a dark time of the day, a police officer was driving a cruiser on Washington Street when the officer noticed a pickup truck which did not have tail lights on. Upon stopping the vehicle, the officer learned the driver did not have a license but had a Guatemalan passport. Two passengers also did not have licenses. The driver contacted the vehicle’s owner. The owner responded from Waltham and was able to repair the tail light. The owner received a citation for operation of a vehicle without a license and operating a vehicle with defective equipment.
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Three vehicles collide
6:15 p.m. Police investigated a three-vehicle accident on East Street near Carroll Avenue. All three vehicles had been traveling roughly west. The lead vehicle was a 2019 Toyota sedan driven by a Norwood man. He was followed by a 2008 Chevy sedan that was driven by a Norwood woman. The trailing vehicle was a 2020 Jeep driven by a Holliston man. The Norwood man was waiting to make a left turn from East Street to St. Denis in his Toyota. The Norwood woman was stopped behind the Toyota, in her Chevy. The Jeep rear-ended the Chevy, and the Chevy was pushed into the Toyota. The lead car had rear damage, the trailing car had front end damage, and the middle car, the Chevy, had both front and rear end damage. The driver of the Chevy was given a citation for driving with a suspended license.
Car crash causes power outage
11:55 p.m. A resident reported a single vehicle crash by a black Honda Accord on Brook Street. The car went off the road and struck two utility poles that were mounted together, causing a power outage. The vehicle had major front end damage, air bags were deployed, and the car needed to be towed. Police determined that the driver, a 27 year-old woman from Walpole, was operating the vehicle while under the influence of alcohol. She was arrested and cited for the same, along with a marked lanes violation and a violation for negligent operation and motor vehicle. NSTAR arrived on the scene to repair damage to the utility equipment and restore power.
Friday, November 12, 2021
Trespassing to watch a football game
7:42 p.m. During a Xavarian Brothers football game, two young men and a young woman, after having been ejected, were trying to regain entry. Police were alerted to the trespass. Police conducted a search for the three youths around the area of Clapboardtree Street, but were unable to locate them.
Football Field by Daniel X. O'Neil from Flickr
Saturday, November 13, 2021
Can't cash out of cryptocurrency
2:24 p.m. A Westwood resident on Hawthorn Street reported a loss of $46,000 from what she believed was a cryptocurrency scam through an internet transaction. The woman had made deposits to the investment, but was unable to make any withdrawals unless she paid a $2,340 fee. This case is under investigation.
Thanks to Lieutenant Christopher Sheehy and the Westwood Police Department for contributing information for this article.
Updated 11/18/21 at 7:05 a.m. A misplaced sentence has been deleted and  inaccurate financial information has been corrected in the first story entry.
