Belmont Police Log, June 30-July 7: White powder found in loaf of bread turns out to be powdered sugar
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.
Friday, June 30
12:20 p.m.: Hill Road resident reported theft of a package. The son of the victim said on June 29th, his father ordered a computer monitor online. He was notified it was delivered at 10:25 a.m this morning. At 11:30 a.m., he called him to retrieve the package from the building lobby but it was not there. He checked the other building lobbies but it was nowhere to be found. Officers spoke to the management office who said they would check the tapes for video surveillance and let them know if anything suspicious is found. The monitor was an ASUS, valued at approximately $500.
5:55 p.m.: A Hull Street resident reported a bike theft from Star Market. The resident said he locked up his bike on the bike rack outside the door nearest to Trapelo Road. He went inside for five minutes and when he came out he found his bike was gone and the lock was cut. The bike is a Tot Guard E-bike valued at approximately $700, black with orange writing and wide towers. He said he left the key in the bike because it was tricky to get out. An employee at Star Market said they would check the security cameras.
11:49 p.m.: A B Street resident reported a motor vehicle break-in in progress. She just saw an unknown person run from her driveway. She was alerted by her dogs who started barking. She observed a figure dressed in all black from her back window inside her 2017 BMW. The person then ran from her driveway towards Grant Avenue, appearing to take a left towards C Street. Officers were unable to locate a suspect in the area and no items appeared to be missing from her vehicle.
Saturday, July 1
7:36 a.m.: A New Jersey resident said he and his wife were walking on School Street towards Belmont Center when a white sedan stopped and the driver began yelling obscenities at them. His wife recorded the incident and showed officers the video which showed a black female operating a white Nissan swearing and making threatening racial comments towards them about Asians. They were visiting friends in Belmont and will be in town until July 4. They were able to get her license plate. Officers learned from the Watertown Police, she is a Watertown resident and they were aware of her due to her current mental health status. Advocates Emergency Psychiatric Services was contacted to assist in getting her the help she needs.
3:48 p.m.: A White Street resident reported a contract dispute. She hired a roofing company and believes they were trying to cheat her out of money. She paid Blue Rhino Roofing $3,000 for the materials needed to do the job. They then asked for an additional $3,000 to continue the work and raised the cost of the project to $18,500. Officers spoke to the owner of the company who said they initially quoted $13,500 for the repair work but after they began the work they noticed the roof already had two layers of roofing and they could not add a third. All the lawyers would have needed to be removed which is why the price was raised. The employees packed up the job site and agreed to discontinue the work. Both parties agreed to email the contract and correspondence regarding the project to the Belmont Police due to a language barrier between the parties.
Sunday, July 2
7:12 p.m.: A Belmont resident reported the son of a former patient showed up at her house and was acting strangely. She did not want officers to contact him at this time due to fear of retribution. Officers said they will monitor the area.
Monday, July 3
10:49 a.m.: Officers assisted a Maple Street resident walk through an apartment a tenant moved out of. He feared the former tenant may have still been there. Officers observed numerous items left behind and damage to the apartment including modifications to the plumbing in the bathroom, an unknown compound around the toilet and sink and serious damage to the floors. They searched the whole structure and determined it was empty.
2:38 p.m.: Officers spoke to a Fairview Avenue resident regarding fraud. Her mother has a caregiver while she is away at work. The M & T Bank account statement had suspicious transactions between April 28th and June 30th, 99 transactions and she believes 88 of them are fraudulent, totaling $6,490.65. She believes the transactions were made by a former caregiver of her mother. She recently became uncomfortable with the caregiver’s knowledge of her mother’s bank and cancelled the card. However, she believes the caregiver was able to obtain the new card information. She said the caregiver was employed for one year but some time in May she stopped showing up to work. She then attempted to use her mother’s card to make a purchase recently and the transaction was declined. When she inquired, she was told the bank suspended the card due to fraudulent activity. Several of the transactions appear to be connected to the caregiver that were not authorized. The bank will investigate the fraudulent activity.
Tuesday, July 4
10:30 a.m.: A B Street resident reported a suspicious item found in a package of bread. It was a package of white powder. Officers determined it was powdered sugar intended to be sprinkled on the bread before eating it.
10:48 p.m.: A Pearson Road resident reported larceny of a bike. It was a purple Huffy mountain bike obtained from the Buy Nothing Belmont Facebook group. She received it the morning of July 3. Today, they noticed the bike was missing at 9 p.m.
Wednesday, July 5
12:18 p.m.: McLean Hospital reported a dog bite. The victim, a Watertown woman was being cared for by Belmont Fire. The bite was on her right forearm. The dog was a husky therapy dog. The owner, an Allston man, is unsure of the training the dog received and did not have proper tags for the dog. The victim inquired about the status of the dog’s vaccinations. Boston Animal Control said the dog is not current on its vaccinations. The dog owner informed them the updated vaccination status was emailed to Animal Control and will provide the information to the victim who was transported to Newton Wellesley Hospital by Belmont Fire.
4:49 p.m.: A Dartmouth Street resident reported on June 10th at 5 p.m., she put two checks in a mailbox on Commonwealth Avenue in Boston. She was just notified by her bank that someone altered and cashed four checks. The two checks she mailed were payments to the IRS. They used the same check for three different $915, $600, $400 and cashed them in three different locations. The second check was used only once for $1,200. The bank cancelled her account. There are also a few online transactions that were refunded by the bank. Alerts were also set up with the credit bureaus and she will be monitoring her accounts. One of the checks to the IRS also had her social security number on it.
Thursday, July 6
7:58 a.m.: An Acorn Park Drive resident reported fraud. There was a charge back in June on her Wells Fargo credit card for $49.77. Wells Fargo cancelled her card and credited back the amount. However, on July 3, there was a charge for $369 on her Bay State debit card at a deli. She did not know either location of the charges. Bay State opened an investigation and she hopes to get credited back the money. She will contact the credit bureaus to flag her name and accounts.
11:32 a.m.: Officers responded to a Brighton Street business concerning packages that were found at the edge of the parking lot. The packages were opened and had an address of Westland Road. Officers took the open packages and brought them to the Westland Road residence they were addressed to. The resident said they contained medication. She received a notification it was delivered yesterday by the post office at noon, however it never arrived at her house.
1:13 p.m.: Collision in area of 248 Mill St. between a 2002 Yamaha motorcycle operated by a Waltham man and a 2018 BMW operated by a Lincoln woman. The operator of the motorcycle said he was riding towards Trapelo Roadon Mill Street. He came upon traffic and did not have time to stop to avoid rear-ending the BMW. The BMW said she was stopped in traffic when she was suddenly rear-ended by the motorcycle. The motorcycle was towed. The driver complained of elbow and back pain and was transported to Mount Auburn Hospital by Belmont Fire. The operator of the BMW complained of neck pain but refused further medical treatment. The operator of the motorcycle was issued a citation for failure to slow.
2:31 p.m.: An Elm Avenue resident said he received a letter several weeks ago from Harvard Pilgrim saying there was a data breach and his information may have been compromised. Since then, someone has gained access to his Elan credit card and charged approximately $12,000. The card was closed and the bank said he was not responsible for the balance. He received a new card from Leader Bank but shortly after, hundreds of dollars on Cash app was charged. He notified the bank and placed a hold on the account.
3:07 p.m.: A Beech Street resident reported fraud. At 9:57 a.m. on July 4th, she received a call from Chase Bank that someone was trying to open a credit card account in her name. She went to Chase Bank on July 5th in Belmont and they said they have no record of someone opening an account in her name. He checked her Experion account and saw someone did a hard inquiry on her account. The inquiry was removed at 10:20 a.m. She does not believe her social security or any other information is compromised. She is not missing any money from her existing accounts and was advised to continue to monitor her accounts for suspicious activity.
4:52 p.m.: Collision in area of Lexington and Sycamore Streets between a 2021 Nissan operated by a Brockton man and a 2010 Toyota operated by a Watertown woman. The operator of the Toyota was approaching the intersection. She saw a pedestrian attempting to cross the road in the crosswalk. When she stopped, she was rear-ended by the vehicle behind her. The operator of the Nissan said he noticed the pedestrian. He collided with the Toyota because it came to a sudden stop. There was moderate damage to both vehicles. The operator of the Nissan was issued a citation for following too close.
8:49 p.m.: A Hill Road resident reported package theft. At 2:30 p.m., an Amazon package was delivered. At 3 p.m., he went downstairs to get it but it was not there. It contained two Plixio Ionic air purifiers valued at approximately $41.42. He informed Amazon and will be receiving a replacement.
10:23 p.m.: A Prospect Street resident reported fraud. On July 4 she purchased a package of stamps from Stamps Eveage. They have been reaching out to her via email with advertisements for the past three months to buy stamps cheaper in bulk. She sent them $45 through the payment website, Link. This morning she realized it was a scam and immediately canceled her credit card.
Friday, July 7
3:44 a.m.: A Randolph woman reported a recovered stolen motor vehicle on Exeter Street, a 2014 BMW. She loaned her vehicle to someone who refused to return it. She reported it stolen to the Randolph Police. After she reported it stolen, she informed the person she loaned the vehicle to. They replied to her text with a photo of the street name where they left the vehicle which was Exeter Street in Belmont. She said she will retrieve the vehicle and refused to tell officers who stole it. The vehicle was entered into CGIS as recovered and the Randolph Police was informed.
Between June 30 and July 6, Belmont Police responded to three domestic calls and four mental health calls.
Arrest
On July 7, at 12:49 a.m., a Townsend man was arrested for OUI liquor.