Crime & Safety
OMGPD: Laughing Squatters, Craigslist Bust, and Foiling a Robbery with a... Stapler?
Our weekly compilation of some of the more unusual police reports from around the Boston area. An arrest does not indicate a conviction.
Stop, Or I'll Staple
A Waltham gas station clerk foiled an armed robbery on Aug. 27 after hitting the suspect with a stapler, according to Waltham Police.
A white male walked into the BP Gas station at 6 Maple St. and held the store up at gunpoint, say Waltham Police. They said the man pointed a silver handgun at the clerk and demanded cash, but the clerk fought back by tossing a stapler at the robber, striking him in the face. The robber fled south on Crescent Street on a bicycle. He did not obtain any money during the robbery. For more details: http://patch.com/A-xsg6
Laughing Squatters
Brookline Police responded to a noise complaint from Duffley Court; a caller said that a group was outside, being loud and inflating balloons with compressed air. When officers arrived, the report says, they found a tank of nitrous oxide (commonly called laughing gas), beer cans and liquor bottles, bongs, and a makeshift bed in one of the bedrooms. Police also found what appeared to be cocaine in a pack of cigarettes. The officers believe the people inside were squatting on the premises, and were not tenants. Winthrop Road man Jacob Wollheim-Hatch, 19, was arrested and charged with inhaling an intoxicating vapor and possession of a class B drug. For more details: http://patch.com/A-xx47
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Breaking and Entering—and Telling
A North Attleboro man will face charges after Weston police say he broke into a Weston store on Aug. 26, then flagged down a police officer to alert him that the business' alarm was going off.
On Aug. 26 around 10:09 p.m., an alarm sounded at , at 542 Boston Post Road, according to police records. Not long after, a police officer who was downtown was flagged down and advised by a man that the alarm at Trove was going off.
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That man, Zachary Pace, 26, of 335 S. Washington St., North Attleboro, admitted to police that he broke into Trove through a rear back window. Nothing was taken, and Pace gave police permission to search his car.
A police spokesman said the investigation continues and Pace would be summonsed to Waltham District Court to face charges: http://patch.com/A-xwx2
Craigslist Chutzpah
Watertown Police say a Watertown man whose bike was stolen then saw a Craigslist ad offering his bike for sale. The discovery led police to a 28-year-old man who was charged with stealing a half-dozen bikes, said Lt. Michael Lawn.
Nicholas Alexander Scheff, 28, of 86 Prentiss St., Watertown, was arrested on Aug. 22 and charged with larceny over $250 and five counts of receiving stolen property. Scheff was also charged with Class A drug possession after police found he had heroin, Lawn said.
For the whole story: http://patch.com/A-xvjS. And several of the stolen bikes have not yet been claimed by their owners, Lawn said. Those seeking information on recovering a stolen bike should contact Watertown Police.
Saved From a Jackpot Scam
Needham Police received a call from a Bank of America employee on Friday, Aug. 24 reporting that a bank customer had—almost—been the victim of a scam. The Needham resident had been told that he had won a large jackpot and then sent money to cover the insurance to Florida. Police were able to recover the money before it was delivered: http://patch.com/A-xxpT
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