Belmont Police Log, April 2-6: If you have a check to mail, do not put it in a mailbox outside the post office

The following are excerpts from the Belmont Police log as made available by the Belmont Police Department. The log is public and available for review. All persons are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law.

Tuesday, April 2

11:35 a.m.: A business on Leonard Street in Belmont reported an individual who entered the business wearing Nazi clothing. An employee working at the front register recognized the symbol on the customer’s hat as a Nazi symbol. The employee said he was not comfortable serving the man because of the Nazi symbol on his hat. When he left the store he gave the Nazi salute and middle finger. He left before a manager could issue him a “No trespass.” He was wearing a gray jacket, black pants, a gray winter hat with the signia on the front and a green backpack and green gloves. The staff was advised to call the police if the man returns.

1:13 p.m.: An accountant for a Belmont business reported a new hire has not returned to work and has some of the company’s property and equipment. Th person was hired on March 21. The new employee has a company vehicle, a 2018 Jeep, a company credit card and $629 in cash, which also belongs to the company. Since going missing, the employee has purchased a laptop with the company credit card. The employee was hired to assist the accountant while he was on leave. When the accountant returned to work, he discovered two deposits that were supposed to be made in March, one for $261, one for $368, were never deposited. The new employee was confronted about the deposits not being done and got very defensive. He also received a text from the employee asking how he can pay the money back. After that text, he has not been able to reach the employee. They are in the process of attempting to retrieve the Jeep from his home and contemplating how they will get the rest of the company’s property back.

3:41 p.m.: A Lorimer Road resident reported check forgery. On April 1, she noticed her Bank of America account was missing $1,062.97. She recently deposited $1,000. When she looked at her recent transactions, she found a withdrawal from Synchrony Bank for $2,063, for Maria Tavarez Co. She froze her account. Bank of America was able to cancel the transaction and there is a pending investigation. She has had several issues in the last several months and believes it stems from using a mailbox in Waverley Square.

Wednesday, April 3

10 a.m.: A Watertown resident reported check fraud. She was a victim of check washing. On Jan. 15, 2024, she dropped off a check for her real estate taxes inside the mailbox in front of the post office on Trapelo Road in Waverley Square. She said the check was written out to the Town of Watertown for $256. When she checked her Fidelity account, she noticed the same check was cashed for $5,000, payable to Javier Ventura.  She informed Fidelity and they are investigating.

Friday, April 5

12 p.m.: A Sandwich resident reported on Jan. 24, 2024, he purchased golf clubs via a Facebook post. He and the seller agreed on $500 for TaylorMade irons. They set a time to meet at a residence on Claflin Street in Belmont. He was unable to provide officers the name of the seller. Facebook messaging between the two was erased. Over the last couple of months, he noticed something wasn’t write about the clubs. He brought them to a golf store who told him the irons he purchased were counterfeit.

12:33 p.m.: A Lexington Street resident reported fraud. The reporting party said on Tuesday, March 26, she answered a posting for Celtics tickets on the Facebook Belmont, Mass. Community page. The woman on the page identified herself as Melissa C. Gregor, and said she had tickets for multiple Celtics games in April she purchased through Ticketmaster. She requested tickets for the April 12^th game and agreed to pay Melissa $450 for the tickets through Zell. Once the money was sent, Melissa disappeared from Facebook. She contacted Bank of America who said they will open an investigation. The $450 charge is still pending. She hopes the bank will refund the money. She notified Facebook and the administrators of the Belmont, Mass. Community page about the incident.

4:04 p.m.: A Horne Road resident reported a forged check. She wrote it from her M & T Bank account for $20 on March 19. She placed it in the mailbox at Trapelo Road near either Beech or Bartlett Street. When she received her monthly statement she saw the check was made out to Jefferson B. Morel for $12,800, cashed on March 22, 2024. She spoke to M & T Bank who closed her account and issued her a new one. She also contacted the three credit bureaus. She was advised to mail all checks inside the post office in the future.

4:50 p.m.: Officers spoke to a Chestnut Street resident concerning a pedestrian who punched their vehicle. Last night at approximately 8:27 p.m., his daughter was driving is 2020 Kia when it was punched by a pedestrian while she was driving on Myrtle Street, attempting to take a left onto School Street. He was wearing all black and was walking his dog. There was a small fist-sized dent on the rear driver’s side of the vehicle. She was able to get a photo of the person. Officers recognized the man and attempted to reach him. At 11 p.m., they reached him by phone. He said he was in the crosswalk. The vehicle stopped for him. He said he stopped in the crosswalk to make sure he was seen, which is when the vehicle passed him on the right through the crosswalk. At that point, he said he pushed off the vehicle because he was upset. He denied punching it.

5:01 p.m.: A Belmont High student reported a theft. He had track practice today at 3:30 p.m. at Harris field. He hung up his gray, blue and green Cotopaxi jacket on the fence outside the track on the Concord Ave. side. When he finished practice, he noticed his jacket was no longer there. He noticed a female with short black hair wearing sunglasses putting what may have been his jacket inside a duffle bag and then walk towards the post office on Concord Avenue. The jacket is valued at $300.

8 p.m.: A Bow Road resident reported suspicious activity. At about 3:15 p.m. earlier today, he got an alert on his Ring doorbell that someone was at his front door. He answered remotely. The man said he was a mason and noticed he needed work done on his wall. He told him, no thank you and the man walked away and into the back of a silver four door pick-up truck with a rack on the back. No money or services were exchanged. He was white, in his 20s, with brown hair, wearing a black jacket, with an Irish accent.

9:37 p.m.: A criminal complaint filed against a Billerica man for operating a motor vehicle with a suspended license, operating an uninsured and unregistered motor vehicle and refusing to identify himself.

Arrest

An 18-year-old Cambridge man was arrested for OUI liquor at 2:08 a.m. on Sunday, April 7.

Between April 1 and April 7, Belmont Police responded to eight mental health calls, three domestics, including filing two criminal charges for assault and battery.