Wellesley police log: Perfectly good egg sandwich wasted in alleged road rage; $37K lost in car sale internet fraud

Wellesley MA police log for the week of March 1-6:

Arrests

On March 2, 2021 at 2:20 p.m. Officer Mankavech was on patrol on Worcester Street when he observed a Chevrolet Equinox with a cracked windshield.   A query of the vehicle’s registration showed that it was stolen out of Norwood on February 24, 2021.  He stopped the vehicle and spoke with the operator, and requested her license and registration.  She was taken into custody, transported to the station, booked in the usual manner, afforded all rights and held on $750 bail.

Incidents

On March 1, 2021 at 8:09 a.m. Officer Collins was dispatched to the area of Worcester Street near Cedar Street for a report of a road rage incident.   Both vehicles involved were stopped by Wellesley Fire Headquarters.  Officer Collins spoke with the operator of a Ford pickup truck that stated the other vehicle involved, a Nissan Rouge, was traveling slowly in the left hand travel lane and when he moved into the right travel lane to pass the vehicle the driver made a profane gesture towards him so he threw a paper bag with an egg sandwich at the vehicle in retaliation.  The driver of the Nissan Rouge stated that the Ford pickup truck was driving fast in the left travel lane and almost struck his vehicle.  He stated he moved to the right travel lane so that he was next to his vehicle and threw an object at his vehicle causing a dent in the passenger side door.  The male party will be summonsed to Dedham District Court for Vandalizing Property and given a citation for littering. (Last week the police responded to an alleged road rage incident involving coffee being thrown.)

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On March 1, 2021 at 7:55 p.m. Officer Misho spoke with a male and female party regarding identity theft.   The reporting party stated an unknown individual had successfully transferred their home phone number to another carrier on February 24^th.  On February 25^th there was an attempt to obtain an auto repair loan in the amount of $4,000 with Discover which was denied.  On February 26^th there were 4 attempts to open a loan with Capital One and an attempt to open a credit card.  On February 27^th there was an attempt to open a bank account with Bank of America using their personal information.  At this time there has been no financial loss suffered by the reporting party.  They were advised to continue to monitor their credit for any suspicious activity.

On March 2, 2021 at 11:05 a.m. Officer Pino was dispatched to a residence on Francis Road for a report of a tree that had fallen on the residence.  The tree had fallen onto the rear of the house causing damage to the roof, second floor and deck as well as damage to two neighbor’s fences.

On March 2, 2021 at 10:30 a.m. Officer Mankavech spoke with a female reporting party who stated they received a message from an unknown male caller on their voicemail that they felt was threatening.  Officer Mankavech listened to the message and while it was unpleasant in nature, there were no threats made towards the reporting party or the organization in the message.   She was advised to contact the police department if similar messages or emails are received.

On March 3, 2021 at 1:41 p.m. Officer Cunningham was on patrol when he received an alert from the license plate reader that the registration on a brown Toyota was suspended.  He stopped the vehicle and spoke with the female operator and requested her license and registration.  She was properly licensed.  Officer Cunningham will summons the owner of the vehicle to Dedham District Court for allowing a Motor Vehicle to be Operated with a Suspended Registration.

On March 4, 2021 at 2:30 p.m. Officer Mankavech spoke with a female reporting party regarding a neighbor who was acting strangely and making her feel unsafe.  The neighbor has mental health issues and suffers from delusions.  Officers advised the neighbor that the reporting party did not wish to have contact with her at which point she returned to her apartment.  The reporting party was advised to contact the police department if she had any additional unwanted interactions with her neighbor.

On March 5, 2021 at 2:35 p.m. Officer Shore spoke with a female reporting party regarding internet fraud.  She stated she was looking to purchase a vehicle she saw advertised on automotive-classifieds.com.  She stated she had conversed via email with a male party who stated he was in North Dakota and they agreed the vehicle would be purchased for $37,000.  She created an account with US Trans LLC to make payment for the vehicle which was supposed to be delivered on March 1^st.  The vehicle was not delivered as scheduled and she learned she had become a victim of fraud.  Officer Shore attempted to identify the seller by the IP address that was located in the emails sent.  The IP address came back to several locations in different countries.

On March 5, 2021 at 8:30 p.m. Officer DeBernardi spoke with a male reporting party who was receiving threatening text messages from an unknown individual after he backed out of an agreement for services.  The unknown party began demanding money and threatening to come to his home.  Officer DeBernardi called the male party and identified himself at which point the male party began threatening him as he did not believe he was a police officer.  It appeared the cell phone number the texts were coming from originated in New York City.  Officer DeBernardi called the phone number a 2^nd time from the Wellesley Police Station but the phone was not answered and he was unable to leave a message.  The reporting party later stated that he stopped receiving text messages after Officer DeBernardi spoke to the unknown male party.

On March 5, 2021 at 3:21 p.m. Officer Collins spoke with a male reporting party who stated he had ordered a computer valued at $1,792 that was supposed to have been delivered by FedEx that day and he did not receive it.  He stated he had checked the tracking number and it indicted the package was delivered at 11:18 a.m.  He contacted FedEx and they advised him it may still be on the truck and to wait until the end of the day before contacting the vendor he ordered the computer from.  Officer Collins spoke with the reporting party on March 6^th and was advised the package was never delivered. 

On May 6, 2021 at 6:30 p.m. Officer DeBernardi spoke to a male reporting party who stated a neighbor had been harassing him for the past few weeks, knocking on his door and demanding rides.  He stated he had attempted to address the issue himself, but the neighbor was continuing to knock on his door.  Officer DeBernardi attempted to speak with the neighbor who suffers from mental health issues.  Officer DeBernardi requested that the department social worker follow up with the female party.