The following incidents, selected from the Lexington Police Department logs, occurred during the week prior to May 1, 2023.
Community Relations
Tuesday, April 25 at 10:00 a.m., a police officer along withthe school resource officer and the department clinician met with high school administration and school counselors to debrief a recent situation. As a result of the meeting, the high school will be implementing better practices that will help issue exact information to emergency personnel during any call for service.
Saturday, April 29 at 8:30 a.m., officers helped with the Little League parade.
Sunday, April 30 at 1:00 p.m., a detective and an officer helped with an event at Depot Square.
Town Bylaws
Thursday, April 27 at 8:00 a.m., a Tyler Road resident reported a vehicle idling for over an hour across the street from his residence. When an officer checked the area of Tyler Road, no idling car was found on the street.
Thursday, April 27 at 6:00 p.m., a Lowell Street resident reported a noise complaint. Construction work continued in the area past the 5:00 p.m. town bylaw. All work had been completed prior to the officer’s arrival. The officer informed the construction crew about the town bylaw.
Suspicious Activity
Monday, April 24 at 11:00 p.m., a Lowell Street resident called to report that about 10 to 15 minutes earlier, a person had walked up his driveway and then walked back. He was unsure if it were male or female, but the person walked up within view of the RING doorbell. This resident could see that the person was wearing a dark blue hoodie or jacket. Officers did a walk-through of the reporting party’s yard as well as the neighbor’s yard, and there was no sign of any problems. The police recommended that the resident call the police again if he saw anything suspicious.
Tuesday, April 25 at 4:00 p.m., multiple calls came in about a man holding political signs at the intersection of Mass Ave. and Waltham Street. He was yelling at passersby. The officer reports that he spoke with this individual and did not see any aggressive behavior. The man was not in any person’s way and was practicing his First Amendment rights.
Thursday, April 27 at 11:30 a.m., the owner of Crafty Yankee called to report a woman in her fifties had swapped price tags in his store. He checked the store camera and the woman had left the store less than 5 minutes prior to his calling. The officer spoke with the employee who completed the purchase. Camera footage showed the woman taking the price tag off one item and placing it on another to pay a lower price. The employee charged the correct price without incident. The woman seen on camera was wearing a black skirt, white pants, and orange or red sandals. She quickly disappeared near the library as she headed toward Bedford Street and Worthen Road.
Thursday, April 27 at 4:00 p.m., an Oxbow Road resident called to report there was a young male crouching down in front of the fence outside his house. This resident described a male wearing a long sleeve white shirt, black pants, and a face mask. He carried a backpack and a clear umbrella. Officers spoke with the young man and confirmed he was a high school student taking part in the “Assassins” game from the high school. He was using a water bottle as a toy makeshift gun. Officers recommended leaving the area.
Saturday, April 29 at 9:00 p.m., a Lawrence Lane resident called to report someone had been ringing their doorbell, but when her husband answered it there was nobody there. She could not see anyone outside, and there were no vehicles in the area, so she was concerned. Officers checked the area and spoke with the homeowners recommending that they keep their doors locked and call if anything suspicious occurred.
Breaking and Entering – Motor Vehicle
Wednesday, April 26 at 4:00 p.m., a Lowell Street resident called to report a breaking and entering of his motor vehicle earlier in the day. The officer spoke with this resident, and there was nothing for a detective to process due to the resident using the vehicle all day. The incident occurred sometime overnight when the vehicle doors had been left unlocked. Approximately $80 was stolen.
Wednesday, April 26 at 6:10 p.m., a School Street resident called to report seeing a man entering her neighbor’s silver Honda minivan parked across the street. The subject entering the vehicle was wearing a mask, a navy-blue parka, jeans cut off on the bottom, and dark shoes. The subject was last seen walking on School Street heading toward Mass Ave. Officers found the subject on School Street and placed him under arrest for breaking and entering a motor vehicle during the daytime. Without incident, police transported the man to the police station for processing.
Fraud
Monday, April 24 at 10:15 a.m., a Woburn Street resident came into the police station to report that an unknown party opened a Bank of America credit card in her name. On Tuesday 4/18, this resident received a letter from Bank of America about an incident of fraud and letting her know they closed the account as they were unable to verify her identity. Shortly thereafter this resident received a card in the mail. The bank recommended that she notify her local police department to have a record on file. Bank of America asked her to watch her credit reports for any suspicious activity and to change passwords to all her online banking accounts, and any other sites having personal identifying information. Prior to the card arriving in the mail, the account was closed, and she suffered no monetary loss.
Tuesday, April 25 at 8:00 p.m., a Shirley Street resident came into the station to report she had been scammed with a fraudulent listing on Craigslist. She saw a rental property ad on Craigslist for Pine Street in Bedford. She reports speaking with Robert Holt who claimed to be the owner of the Pine Street. Mr. Holt asked this resident to Zelle the money to him, so she would be able to see the house. She tried to send the money, however, she put the wrong name into the Zelle payment. She went to the residence in Bedford and saw a real estate sign in the yard. She called the real estate company that stated that the house had already been rented, and there was no one by the name of Holt living there. Holt had asked for pictures of her license along with her children’s licenses, but she did not supply any bank information and there was no monetary loss. Officers recommended that she contact her banks and the credit bureaus to watch her accounts and to report any further fraudulent activity.
Wednesday, April 26 at 2:00 p.m., a Peacock Farm Road resident came into the station to report fraud. He reported that he wrote a check to Lyons Oil for approximately $400. He had mailed the check at the Mass Convenience earlier this month. He checked his bank statement and found a withdrawal for $4800.04. His check had been altered, so he went to the Cambridge Savings Bank to report the incident. He said that Cambridge Savings Bank would refund the amount lost.
Saturday, April 29 at 12:40 p.m., a Bedford Street resident walked into the police station to report that a check he had recently mailed to his insurance company had been washed. The original amount on the check was $154.70, but it had been altered to $7456.27. The check was mailed on the evening of April 12 at the Heritage Mobil USPS mailbox.
*Facts from AARP’s Fraud Watch from the March 2023 issue of the AARP Bulletin. From: Six Ways to Foil Check Washers
#3: Use a pen with blue or black nonerasable gel ink. Gel ink soaks into paper and may be more difficult to remove than ballpoint pen ink according to the authorities.
March’s police activity/calls:
Animal Control: 23
Assist Fire Department: 129
Business Checks: 295
Cruiser Checks: 412
Directed Traffic: 230
Fraud (reported): 27
The Lexington Police Department updates its incident log on Monday mornings. LexObserver coverage is a sampling of significant incidents and is not an exhaustive list. The full logs are available for public viewing.