Officers arrested a man prowling Westville and recovered an array of allegedly stolen items.
The man was apprehended Tuesday at 2:30 a.m. by Officers Jose Luna and Jeffrey King, after an anonymous caller reported someone with a backpack darting between vehicles on Philip Street in Westville, according to a report from police spokesperson Officer David Hartman.
Here’s what Hartman said happened:
When the officers found the man, they asked him where he was coming from and what he was holding in his hand.
The man said he had come from his cousin Dawn’s house and that she had given him an X‑Box 360 console. Officers refuted his claim, arguing the X‑Box had just been stolen from a car in the driveway and that the backpack was full of other stolen goods. They emptied the bag and found two watches, a Studio G cell phone, an iPhone and a computer tablet.
The man reached into the pocket to get his identification card out and accidentally pulled out credit cards that did not belong to him. He told officers he found them on Whalley Avenue.
Officers also saw a pink iPod sticking out from the pocket of his sweatshirt. They took that, too. Then they arrested the man and charged him with larceny and trespassing.
Later Tuesday, at 10:20 p.m., a restaurant worker said he was robbed by someone with a weapon. Officers responded to Crown and High Streets to investigate. The worker, who doesn’t speak English, said he was walking home when two men robbed him. He said he heard one of them say “cellphone,” so he dropped his and ran away.
Police have not found the perpetrators of this crime.
