4 teens charged in car break-in
By Rachael Scarborough King, Register Staff
April 9, 2008
GUILFORD — Police said they arrested four teenagers early Tuesday after a Valley Shores Drive homeowner noticed people breaking into his car.
Police Chief Thomas Terribile said that a man called the Police Department around 1:30 a.m. to say he could see people going through his vehicle. The resident turned on a spotlight on the outside of his house, causing the people in a red SUV to drive away, Terribile said.
After receiving the report, Guilford officers called the Madison Police Department because the vehicle was seen heading toward Madison, Terribile said.
Madison police stopped a vehicle fitting that description on Opening Hill Road near the Madison-Guilford line, and the homeowner identified it as the one he had seen in his driveway, according to police reports.
Terribile said that Guilford police arrested the four people who were in the car at the time it was stopped: Vincent Turcio, 19; Jason Newman, 19; a 17-year-old; and a 16-year-old, all of Branford. The juveniles’ names were not released because of their ages.
Police charged all four with one count of fifth-degree larceny, one count of sixth-degree larceny, one count of conspiracy to commit fifth-degree larceny, one count of conspiracy to commit sixth-degree larceny and three counts of criminal attempt to commit sixth-degree larceny. Turcio was also charged with possession of burglary tools, Terribile said.
Officers also used the department’s reverse 911 system Tuesday morning to let residents in the area of the break-in know about the incident and ask anyone else whose car was broken into to call the police.
“Normally, it’s not only one car, it’s a whole neighborhood that they hit,” Terribile said. “So, [we were] just trying to identify as many as we can while we have them in custody so we can make the charges.”
Putnam Morgan, a resident of the area, said he was not pleased to receive the call at about 7:15 a.m. He thought it was too early in the morning for a call at home.
“I was a little mad,” he said. “Nobody calls my house before 9 o’clock in the morning, and everyone who knows us knows that.”
Morgan said he wrote a letter to the Board of Selectmen, Board of Police Commissioners and Terribile about the call.
Terribile said the goal of calling around 7 a.m. was to contact people before they left their houses in the morning.
“What the midnight shift was hoping to do was call the residents before they left for work while we still (had the four people) in custody to find out if anyone else was broken into,” he said. “They kind of waited until a reasonable time when they figured people would be getting up and going to work.”