The following information was provided by the Watertown Police Department.
July 10: A Pleasant Street resident received emails from Best Buy and Target saying that he had signed up for credit cards from the stores, but he had not opened them. Someone purchased Apple Air iPods from a Target in Massachusetts on the card. The resident was able to cancel the cards and is not sure how someone got his information.
July 11: A woman was shopping at Target around 8 p.m. on July 10 and placed her phone in the child seat of a shopping carriage when she went through self checkout. The phone had a wallet attached that contained her credit cards, license and cash. She realized it was missing and reported it to police. Officers could not find anything on store security video. She used the find iPhone app and saw it was somewhere in Brighton. Boston Police tried to locate the phone but were unsuccessful.
July 11: A number of clothing items were missing from a resident’s room at a building on Coolidge Hill Road. The person was away from June 20 to July 3.
July 11: A Pleasant Street resident received an email from Experian about their credit score going down. The resident’s credit report showed someone in Detroit opened a DTE Energy account in March 2024 and closed it in August 2024.
July 11: A business on Dexter Avenue had its email system hacked and $28,634 worth of transactions were forwarded out of the company’s bank account to an account in Florida. Police are investigating
July 11: A man entered Target and went through self checkout with a cart full of items and left without paying for $218 worth of merchandise.
July 11: Someone put dirt into the plastic boxes containing equipment for an irrigation system at a home on Sycamore Street.
July 12: A man rode an electric scooter to Best Buy, went inside, took multiple pairs of headphones and put them into a backpack. He left without paying for $220 worth of merchandise, and fled on Arsenal Street on the scooter.
July 12: A stand-up electric scooter worth $1,000 was stolen from CVS on Main Street. It was parked in the vestibule at the store.
July 13: Officer Frank Forde was patrolling on Mt. Auburn Street when he saw a grey Jeep swerve over the double yellow line as it drove eastbound. The driver was pulled over and Forde discovered the man had a suspended license. Gary Greene, 64, of Somerville, was arrested for marked lanes violation, and driving with a suspended license — a subsequent offense.
July 13: A woman reported hearing a noise at the door of her Belmont Street home at about 3:45 a.m. She looked out and saw a man trying to open the door. He got spooked and ran away heading eastbound on Belmont Street. Police are investigating.
July 13: A vehicle parked in the driveway of a home on Fitchburg Street was broken into between 5 p.m. on July 12 and 9 a.m. on the 13th. The interior was rummaged through and $5 in quarters was taken.
July 13: A shoplifter took $471 in various merchandise from Target.
July 13: A man was arrested for attempting to take $142 worth of merchandise from Target. He also had a warrant. Barry Spencer, 56, of Boston, was arrested for shoplifting and a warrant out of Boston for intimidation of a witness.
July 13: Police arrested Igor Desouza Schulz, 34, of Watertown, on a straight warrant from Brockton District Court.
July 14: A bicycle was taken from an office building on Arsenal Way. It was valued at $250 and was last seen on July 11.
July 15: A man entered Best Buy and took two pairs of Skullcandy headphones, put them in a black plastic bag, and left without paying. They were valued at $200.
July 17: A Maple Street resident came out at 7:24 a.m. and discovered the black BMW SUV was gone. It had been parked in the driveway the night before. The owner checked the finder app and discovered it was in Worcester. Police in Worcester went to the address but only found a piece of the vehicle that included the GPS device.
July 17: Folding chairs and a folding table were left on the side of the street on Mt. Auburn Street.
July 17: A Melendy Avenue resident was contacted by Citibank about eight unauthorized transactions on a debit card for a total of $877.
July 17: Officer Cathy Welch heard a loud noise and saw a vehicle headed west on Arsenal Street. Sgt. Chris Hoey, who was working a detail, also observed a hit and run on Arsenal. Police caught up with the vehicle and stopped it. Officers detected an odor of alcohol from inside the vehicle and observed several Coors Lights on the passenger side of the vehicle, and an open Corona. The driver did not have a license. Field sobriety tests were conducted and the driver was arrested. It was also discovered he had a warrant. Olvin Lopez-Orellana, 25 of Boston, was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol, and the default warrant from Brighton District Court for larceny from person, resisting arrest, assault and battery on a police officer, and assault with a dangerous weapon.
A rough week at the Watertown Mall: five incidents at Target and two at Best Buy, by my count. I loved the sting operation of a few weeks ago, but unless it’s sustained, this is the new normal. It makes the whole town feel less safe. Most of the perps identified are from out of town, attracted by the easy pickings at the malls.