Arrests
None
Incidents
Between June 13 and June 21, the Watertown Police Department received 10 reports of an unemployment scheme. The residents report that they got letters about their unemployment applications, but they had never filed for benefits. Unemployment fraud can be reported to the Department of Unemployment Assistance by clicking here.
June 15, 6:52 a.m.: A man who owns a property management company was notified by an employee in Canton that the employee’s vehicle tires were slashed, and the Canton Police were investigating. The man went out of his home on Channing Road and checked his work truck. He noticed the front passenger-side tire was slashed. He had parked at about 5 p.m. on June 14, and sometime overnight someone punctured his tire. Cost of the tire was $300.
June 15, 4:02 p.m.: A Watertown man told police that he was being extorted. The man received a Facebook Messenger message and a text from someone claiming he had a compromising video of the victim from the 1990s. The man was told he had to send money or else the person would release the video all over social media. The man sent three payments by Western Union of $100, $200 and $500. Police investigated and it appears that the phone numbers the suspect was calling from were computer generated and do not accept incoming calls. The man did not know how the suspect would get his number.
June 16, 10:50 a.m.: A woman working at the deli counter at the Stop & Shop at 171 Watertown St. when another woman walked behind the counter and began yelling at her, things like “stop harassing me” and other unintelligible things. Then the woman began to punch the worker repeatedly, knocked her to the floor and broke her eyeglasses. The victim said she had seen the same woman a week earlier, and she observed the suspect in the deli area. On that day, the suspect gestured at her with a closed fist and again began yelling at her. The victim has not met the suspect before and she she does not know why she would attack her. Police spoke to the suspect, who said last week she had a problem with this particular employee and she returned that day to beat her up. The victim was transported to the hospital for precautionary reasons. The suspect, a 42-year-old woman from Somerville, was summonsed to Waltham District Court on a charge of assault and battery on a person over 60. She was also transported for a mental health evaluation.
June 16, 2:50 p.m.: A bicycle was stolen from Home Depot sometime between noon and 8:30 p.m. on June 14. The bike was secured to a bicycle wrack outside the employee break area at Home Depot and locked it up with a cable lock. The victim, a 48-year-old woman from Waltham, reported that she found the cable lock had been cut and the bike was gone. The bicycle is a women’s teal green mountain bike valued at $100.
June 17, 12:18 a.m.: Someone threw eggs at the front of a home on Emerson Road. No damage was done. Since March, there have been two previous similar incidents at the same home. Police are investigating.
June 17, 2:55 p.m.: A man from Raynham who had been working at a construction site on Grove Street from May 29 to June 4, noticed a chipping gun was missing. The Hilti chipping gun is valued at $1,200.
June 18, 9 p.m.: Police were flagged down at Moxley Field. Two 15 year old youths reported that their backpacks were stolen while they were playing basketball. They had been around the Moxley Field area for five hours. When they were about to leave the boys went back to get their backpacks, but they were no longer in the court area. Police canvased the area and found them near where they had left them. One of the youths said that he had $260 in cash in his backpack and it was no longer there. The other said he had a portable JBL speaker worth $150, which was now missing. They had seen 10 to 15 other youths on the courts, and around the field area, over the five hours that they were there. They were not sure who would have taken the items.
June 19, 8:46 a.m.: A Watertown woman was contacted by someone saying that her Social Security Number was being used to open credit cards. The caller told her he would help her if she went to CVS and bought $400 in gift cards. Then the caller told her if she told anyone, she would be arrested. He convinced the victim to buy another $700 worth of gift cards. At that point she realized it was a scam and contacted police.
June 19, 1:10 p.m.: Police received calls about a fight on Mt. Auburn Street at Melendy Avenue. Officers located one of the men involved, and also talked to witnesses and got access to a surveillance video. The video showed a man at the bus stop who kicked an object into the street, and the object hit a Honda Accord. The drive stopped, got out and walked toward the person who kicked the object at his car. The two exchanged words, and they got in physical and bumped chests. The driver walked back toward the vehicle and sat down. Then the man who kicked the item continued after him. The driver pushed the man back, which sent him into the street and the man was brushed by a passing car. He was not injured. The car stopped, and it was determined the driver of the vehicle that brushed the man was not at fault. The driver of the Honda sped off, and police were not able to identify him.
June 19. 3:19 p.m.: An employee of a business on Galen Street discovered a fence on the property had been compromised. Someone accessed the parking garage, where building maintenance equipment was stored. The worker noticed that an Ariens commercial snow blower worth $2,500 was missing. The employee did not know when it went missing, because it is not clear when the last time someone saw the snow blower. The worker also did not know when the fence was compromised.
These are just a small number of incidents that our police officers deal with every day. I thank them all for being out there serving and protecting us. Do not reduce their budget. Let’s appreciate them for who they are and what they do. Let the other states and communities that have problems deal with their issues more quickly. Let’s not use a broad brush to label our police as being abusive or uncaring. They put their lives on the line for us. If we want respect, we need to show respect.