The following information was provided by the Watertown Police Department.
Dec. 27, 7 p.m.: An Edith Avenue resident lost a wallet and an unknown person attempted to use the person’s credit card at multiple locations in the Boston area. One was a $2,548 purchase at the Apple Store; and three at Walgreen’s for $327, $400, and $300. All were unsuccessful, and Wells Fargo notified the resident about the attempted charges. Police are investigating.
Dec. 28, 12:30 p.m.: Police responded to a call for a disturbance on North Beacon Street. A woman showed up and began damaging a man’s Mercedes. She left but an officer located the woman. She denied damaging the vehicle, but the car stereo was ripped out of the console and the face of the radio was cracked. Police discovered the woman had a warrant for her arrests. Mary Cradock, 32, of Qunicy, was arrested on a charge of vandalizing property and the warrant out of Quincy District Court.
Dec. 29, 8 a.m.: A Langdon Avenue resident parked in a driveway and sometime overnight from Dec. 28 to 29 it was broken into. The owner discovered $1,500 was missing from the center console, but nothing else was disturbed. The vehicle had been left unlocked. Police are investigating.
Dec. 30, 3 p.m.: A resident of Coolidge Hill Road reported a case of check fraud. The she mailed a check for $15 in a mailbox on Mt. Auburn Street. When her statement arrived it showed the check had been compromised and altered to be for $68. She alerted Digital Federal Credit Union about the fraud. Watertown Police are working with the Postal Police on the case.
Dec. 31, 12 p.m.: A Nike store employee saw three people come into the store and discovered that they had shoplifted items. The security footage showed that two suspects come in and when the clerk was not looking they took two pairs of Air Jordan shoes, and grey workout sweaters. They were worth a combined $640. One suspect was a Black male in his 20s who wore a black winter jacket, a light-green hooded sweatshirt, and black pants. The second was a Black female in her 20s with a black headband, a black jacket, and grey pants. A third person was with them but did not take any items. The same suspects were seen shoplifting at Nike on Dec. 5.
Dec. 31, 3:51 p.m.: Best Buy security called to report two men who came in and took merchandise. The pair spoke to a sales representative for a few minutes, and then one of the men asked the employee about an item in another area. The other man took a laptop off the display and put it in a backpack and left without paying. The Lenovo Slim Pro 7 was worth $1,200. One suspect was a white male wearing a blue button-up shirt with dark pants. The second suspect is a white male wearing grey sweatpants, a green sweater, and carried a navy blue backpack.
Jan 1. 2:43 p.m.: Employees at Old Navy reviewed security footage and saw a white female come into the store on Dec. 31 at 10:38 a.m., walked around for 10 minutes, and then pulled out a yellow bag and to put numerous children’s clothing items into the bag and left. They were worth a total of $159.
Jan 2, 4 p.m.: A Williams Street resident came to the Police Station that someone opened a credit card in his name. The person used the man’s Social Security Number and opened the account with Goldman Sachs in July 2023. The person made a $2,250 charge, but the man did not notice until November 2023 when he got his credit score and noticed it dropped 55 points. He notified the bank and filed a police report.
Crime continues to rear its ugly head in Watertown and in every other city in Massachusetts, and our city and many others like New York, Chicago and LA don’t prosecute these shoplifting crimes for the most part. They set the dollar limits to the point that our District Attorneys can’t prosecute them, fine them, or jail them even if they are repeat criminals. With no consequences, all these theft crimes will continue to grow
In Target they have sections of the store covered with security cages to prevent theft of some of the items. Some CVS stores also do that in certain sections in their stores. You have to reach out to an employee to get those items.
In LA stores like Target and Walgreens have closed many stores due to the losses. Stores can’t continue to operate in high crime areas without making a certain profit. If they remain in those cities, the prices are raised for us consumers. Why should we once again subsidize those who are intent on getting freebies?
Our laws need to be changed so that repeat criminals are actually incarcerated for their crimes. We don’t need the mobs rushing into stores and grabbing huge amounts of items and not being punished. If these shoplifters have a drug problem, let’s put them where they can get some help and not be a burden on the rest of us. For those who just want to take advantage of weak laws, let’s encourage our state officials to make the changes necessary to keep shoppers and workers in stores and other locations safe.
The state is already having funding problems because they are not taking in enough money to cover all the programs needed or desired. We are losing thousands of residents in MA each year so we are losing those income taxes, and if we don’t do something to curtail theft, all those sales are lost and so are the sales taxes that would have happened. The Governor is going to cut funding for many cities’ programs. One mentioned is Senior Citizen grants.
Watertown wants to continue to add laws mandating honest citizens to comply with laws such as the snow shoveling ordinance and their associated fines which passed last night at the Council meeting with six of the nine Councilors voting yes. We also have parking and driving fines and many others that we need to pay. Let’s hold the criminals responsible for their much more serious offenses.
Speak up about changing laws to keep us safe and secure in our communities. Contact your legislators.
Who leaves $1500 bucks in their car and then leaves the car unlocked? I have no sympathy….
is anyone thinking what i am? Post Office needs a new home….and with the new brewery you will be able to get your weed, a cold brewski, and mail a package all next to each other on pleasant street!
In related news still waiting for the three other restaurants to open across from the Cannistraro development, which of course will have even more restaurants….