Police Reports: Burglary By Craigslist

The following information was supplied by the Monroe Police Department. No arrested person is guilty until so judged in a court of law.

Burglary by Craigslist

A Flint Ridge Road resident called police to report the burglary of a neighbor's garage at around 12:53 p.m. Monday. Police said five youths forced open the overhead door, stole a 2006 Honda motorcycle and a bicycle, and loaded it into a white van.

A short time later, Ansonia police ran a check on the license plate and discovered the van was stolen out of Bridgeport. After a short pursuit, police said officers were able to stop the van in their town.

Police said the Monroe victim had actually been unwittingly communicating with the burglary suspects, who exchanged texts with him about his bike advertisement on Craigslist. After he gave them his home address, police said the youths used it to commit the burglary.

Inside the van, police said they found a list of addresses and corresponding items obtained by Craigslist that had been jotted onto the back of a math worksheet, adding their belief that the list was to be used for other burglaries.

Four Bridgeport juvenile males, ages 11, 15, 16 and 16, were charged by Monroe police with third-degree burglary, third-degree larceny, conspiracy to commit third-degree burglary and conspiracy to commit third-degree larceny. An arrest of a 17-year-old Bridgeport male is pending, police said.

Ansonia arrested the five suspects on their own charges.

The Flint Ridge Road resident picked up his motorcycle and bicycle at the Ansonia Police Department.

All About Vandalism

All About Art, 641 Main Street, reported vandalism to its sign along the busy state roadway Tuesday morning.

Sometime over the weekend, police said someone drove up onto the shoulder, made 66 feet of tire tracks in the lawn, struck the sign and knocked it off its pillars and damaged a ceramic electrical outlet. The damage is estimated at $1,200.

Police said the business had been closed during the incident and that the owner discovered the damage when it opened on Tuesday.