Belmont Police Log, Sept. 27 to Oct. 4: Multiple car break-ins on Stony Brook Road, newborn baby injured while exiting bus, fraud and more

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, Sept. 27

12:15 p.m.: A Belmont resident reported her son’s Yamaha alto saxophone was possibly stolen. He left it in the designated area for musical instruments at the Chenery Upper Elementary School. At the end of the day, when he went to retrieve it, it was missing. An extensive search was conducted by the school, but the saxophone was not located. It is valued at approximately $1,240.

12:26 p.m: A Dorchester resident parked her vehicle on Springfield Street at approximately 10 a.m. When she returned, she saw a scrape on the driver’s side of the rear bumper. Home cameras on the street did not see anything.

1:53 p.m.: A Belmont resident reported fraud on her Bank of America account. There were charges from Prestige Car Wash for a subscription she never authorized for $899.82.

1:58 p.m.: A Belmont resident reported damage to his home. There was a small hole in his front bay window. He was concerned it may have come from a BB gun. He was unable to locate any foreign object. He hasn’t had any recent landscaping cince the summer and there has been no previous suspicious activity. He will send a photograph of the window and the hole.

2:59 p.m.: A Belmont resident reported damage to her daughter-in-law’s Honda Pilot parked on Creeley Road. She heard a bang in front of her house and didn’t think anything of it. Shortly after, she went outside to see what happened and observed damage to the front left side of the vehicle. She saw a big truck driving down Creeley Road, bu was not able to identify it or get a license plate. She is unsure if the truck was involved in the hit and run. There were white paint chips from Honda Pilot on the ground directly below the damage.

4:43 p.m.: A Belmont resident reported fraud. Between June 1, 2022 and July 31, 2022, someone deliberately used his social security number to claim $43,419 in lottery winnings. Today, he received a letter from the IRS demanding he pay $16,134 in back taxes on the claimed winnings. He realized he was a victim of fraud and contacted his CPA who files his taxes. He authorized her to speak on his behalf with the IRS and she determined his social security number was used in Washington, DC and Virginia to claim lottery winnings a total of 30 times. The Social Security Administration has flagged his account and requested he file a police report.

6:37 p.m.: A woman was in distress in the area of Trapelo Road and Beech Street because her child fell out of the carriage. She was riding on the bus Westbound from Harvard Square with her two sons, one sitting in the back and a newborn in his car seat attached to the front of the stroller. When the bus stopped to let her out, the driver, a skinny black male, apologized for not pulling up closer to the curb. As she was exiting with the stroller, the bus doors started to close before the stroller was completely out and the driver started driving away. The force of the bus moving and the doors closing caused the carriage to tip over and her son in the car seat tipped off the carriage and landed on the ground. The rest of the stroller tipped sideways. She had to pick up the car seat that was turned upside down. Her son’s car seat buckle was around his neck. Her doctor said to bring him to the hospital to get checked. Her other son seemed to be ok. She was very upset with the bus driver who she said never should have left without them safely off the bus. She did not have his name or identifying information.

Saturday, Sept. 28

10:56 a.m.: A Belmont resident reported harassment. She has a business as a sports physical therapist and received a call inquiring about her services. After speaking to him on her cell phone, she determined she would not take him on as a new client. He then made vulgar and derogatory statements toward her via text. She does not know who the person is, but wanted to report the incident and has since blocked his number. Not long after blocking it, she received a text from a different number asking similar questions. She did not respond to the text.

9:06 p.m. A Belmont resident on Park Road reported an unwanted person in her garage. Officers advised the person who was known to the homeowner not to return.

9:15 p.m.: CVS on Leonard Street reported a man trying to buy gift cards using a fake passport and making people nervous. The store policy dictates that a license needs to be shown for any gift card purchases for more than $200. The man was attempting to buy 13 cards for $100 each in cash. The employee said he was wandering around the store for a while and came up to him and two other young males asking them if they liked mushrooms, “the good kind.” He then told them they were good on pizza and asked if they wanted any. He also was talking about random facts and that he went to Harvard. It made the employee very uncomfortable. When he asked to see the man’s identification, he produced a passport that belonged to an Asian female. When he told him he was unable to take the passport, the man asked why not and began arguing with him. When he said he would call the store manager, the man left after purchasing a few small items.

Monday, Sept. 30

8:15 a.m.: A Cambridge resident reported his vehicle was parked in the CVS parking lot on Sept. 15. When his girlfriend opened the rear driver’s side door, it struck the door of the rear passenger side of a car parked next to him causing scratches and chips in the paint of his vehicle. He and the operator of the other vehicle exchanged information and photographs were taken.

9 a.m.: An individual on Moraine Street was throwing rocks at cars causing damage to a Melrose resident’s vehicle. A photo was taken of the individual and officers were able to identify him as an individual who lives on Morain Street. He denied the incident and was informed of criminal charges regarding destruction of property. He was transported to Mount Auburn Hospital for an evaluation.

2:32 p.m.: A Belmont resident reported a rock thrown through an apartment window on Moraine Street. The resident was not home at the time. When he returned home, he saw the damage from a rock thrown through his front window. Nothing else in the apartment was disturbed and there were no signs of forced entry.

10:11 p.m.: A Belmont resident reported receiving a phone call from someone named Thomas Grant from Citibank who told him there was suspicious activity on his bank account connected to his business. He was suspicious of the caller and ended it. He then received texts telling him to call another number. A few hours after the phone call, he began to see multiple unauthorized transactions totaling $250,000 from the company bank account and sent to a Wells Fargo account. He notified CitiBank of the situation and was advised to reach out to the three major credit companies.

Tuesday, Oct. 1

11:56 a.m.: Belmont Communications received a threat from a Veterans Crisis Hotline that a person was in the bathroom of the Winn Brook Elementary School with an AR-style weapon. The IP address from the person reporting the incident came back to Missouri. The Fusion Center said they received similar reports from other schools in the state and it was determined this was a swatting call. A search of the building was conducted while the school remained in lock down.

9:40 p.m.: An unwanted person was reported on Clyde Street.

Wednesday, Oct. 2

11:13 a.m.: A Belmont resident reported fraud. A Fidelity check from his mother’s account was cashed for $8,500 and made out to someone by the name of Mark Brown. Fidelity requested a police report.

4:24 p.m.: A Belmont resident reported a man was following her. He has followed her in the past and was told by police not to talk to her. Seeing him made her nervous and she wanted the incident documented. A license plate number of his vehicle was provided, and his identity was determined.

6:26 p.m.: A Belmont business on Trapelo Road reported suspicious activity. A white male entered the building and was rambling about lawsuits against him for being a peeping Tom at Orange Theory. He asked him if he needed assistance, and he didn’t answer. He said he was a schizophrenic and is being denied medication by CVS. He eventually left. He made her and other employees very nervous. She was advised to call if he returns.

10:50 p.m.: A missing child was reported. The child was later located.

Thursday, Oct. 3

3:56 p.m.: A Belmont resident reported a bicycle collision at Belmont High School causing damage to a Rolex watch and bicycle.

5:13 p.m.: An unattended child was reported at Belmont Car Care on Lexington Street. A young boy was alone with no shoes on. He was brought inside the gas station for safety and Belmont police was contacted. The boy’s mother called the police who said her son has special needs and managed to open the door to the house which has a safety device on the doorknob.

Friday, Oct. 4

3:31 a.m.: A vehicle on Stony Brook Road was broken into. The security camera showed an individual opening the passenger side door of the resident’s Jeep Wrangler. The individual was wearing a black mask with full coverage, a gray-colored sweatshirt and black pants. He was then seen going into a white sedan driving towards Dow Avenue. It is not known if anything was taken from the vehicle. A jeep tool kit wa found on the road near 125 Stony Brook Road.

3:54 a.m.: A Stony Brook Road resident reported the driver’s side door of their black Jeep Wrangler was a jar. The interior appeared to have been opened and searched. A white Chevrolet Tahoe parked next to the Jeep also appeared to have been opened and searched. Both vehicles were unlocked. The owner of the Jeep said $2 was taken.

4:09 a.m: Another Stony Brook resident reported the windows of two vehicles parked in the driveway were broken. One was a white Lexus sedan. The glove box was open and the contents were on the passenger seat. The second was a gray Lexus sedan. It is unknown of any items were taken

Arrest

A Belmont woman was arrested at 9:53 a.m. on Sept. 30 on a warrant of apprehension and CRA violation.

Belmont Police responded to one domestic and three mental health calls between Sept. 27 and Oct. 4.