DoingItLocal

(Bridgeport, CT – March 21, 2014) – Police arrested a 50-year-old man on a burglary charge Thursday. Officer Stavros Mirtsopoulos was dispatched to 1 Yaremich Drive, a vacant house, on a report of a burglary in progress. Officers had positioned themselves in the front and rear of the building when the suspect, Willie Cox, of Bridgeport, attempted to flee out the front door. When he encountered police, he attempted to go back into the house but police apprehended him.

He was treated for lacerations to his hands that he suffered when he broke the window to gain entry and for a laceration on his head.

He was treated and released at the hospital and then  booked on charges of third-degree burglary, third-degree criminal mischief and interfering with police.

(Bridgeport, CT – March 20, 2014) – A teenaged robber had ordered pizza from his cell phone with a just-stolen credit card.

The larcenous act provided detectives with a key lead when one of the detectives remembered the same cell phone number in connection with another January robbery he investigated.

Now the same teen will face charges in connection with a second robbery.

On Jan. 13, a mugging victim came to police headquarters for an interview with Detectives Martin Heanue and Jorge Cintron about a street robbery that had happened on Jan. 2 on Beechwood Avenue. She was walking home and reached her door when she was grabbed from behind and had her purse stolen by two males.

In the interview, she also told police that her visa card was used to purchase food from a Stratford pizza restaurant about two hours after the mugging. She had used a GPS locator a day after the robbery that told her that her stolen iPhone was in the area of 154 Alex St.

When the detectives followed up and visited the pizza shop, an employee stated the food was delivered to 203 Alex St. and provided the phone number from which the order was placed.

Certain details jumped out.

“I remembered the phone number” from the earlier case, said Heanue. He also recalled that the robbery suspect in the other case was arrested at a friend’s house on Alex Street.

That robbery happened on Hollister Avenue on Jan. 5, three days after the purse snatching. Heanue and Cintron were assigned to that case as well.

In the Jan. 5 robbery, the teenaged victim, from West Hartford, stated that he had arranged to buy a pair of Air Jordan sneakers on a Facebook page called “Connecticut Sneaker Exchange.” The alleged seller used a profile name and the two corresponded to negotiate a selling price.

When he and his father came to the arranged location, they were robbed. Police were able to identify one of the suspects with his Facebook profile picture. The victim also provided the suspect’s cell phone number.

That detail proved to be key in the Jan. 2 robbery investigation.

As Heanue and Cintron began investigating the earlier robbery from Jan. 2, they realized that the cell phone used to order the pizza was the same one provided by the victim for the suspect in the Jan. 5 robbery.

They also noted that the pizza delivered to Alex Street was taken to a location in the same block as where the teen suspect had been arrested.

The detectives showed the purse-snatching victim a photo array that contained the suspect’s photo and she picked out the suspect.

The suspect has been in custody since his arrest on Jan. 5. A judge signed a warrant charging the youth, who has since turned 18, with first-degree robbery, fifth-degree larceny, credit card theft and illegal use of a credit card. The warrant has not yet been served.

12:55pm–#Bridgeport CT–#Fairfield– A carjacking just occurred at at the Fitness Edge in Fairfield and ended at Seaside Park. Taken at gunpoint was an elderly man’s wallet and blue Chrysler Pacifica with CT plates 176 UJH. UPDATE–The vehcile has just been located at Cottage and Norman Street in Bridgeport.

(Bridgeport, CT – March 21, 2014) – Two men face charges after police interrupted a drug deal Thursday on Norman Street.

Officers Christopher Martin and Elizabeth Santora made the arrest after noticing the occupant of BMW acting suspiciously. They later observed him pull over on Norman Street and, a moment later, saw a gray Chevrolet Equinox park along side of him.

The BMW driver, Michael Mott, 34, of Naugatuck, partially exited his car and reached into the Chevy.

Believing a drug deal was taking place, police converged. Mott got back into his car and attempted to flee but was stopped by police. He claimed he was only buying a “$20 bag,” a reference to an amount of drugs.

While searching the driver of the Chevy, Xavier Diaz, 28, of Bridgeport, the driver dropped a bag containing crack cocaine. Police also later recovered a baggie of crack cocaine from the rear seat of the cruiser that transported Mott to police headquarters.

Diaz was charged with possession of narcotics and possession of narcotics with intent to sell. His bond was set at $25,000. Mott was charged with possession of narcotics. His bond was set at $10,000.