Local police warn about break-ins
By Caitlyn Kelleher JOURNAL REPORTER

Gardner Police have arrested one suspect in a series of breakins that have plagued the region but police do not think all of the culprits are stopped.

Local police are still warning residents to lock their doors and windows when they leave their houses and to keep an eye out for the unusual.

Westminster Police Chief Salvator Albert said more than $25,000 worth of merchandise has been stolen from homes in town over the course of the last six weeks and more than $100,000 of merchandise has been stolen in over 50 break-ins in the region.

"A lot of these breaks are quick ins and easy grabs," Albert said.

He said most of the time the suspects have been able to gain entry through an unlocked door, an open window or an open garage door. He said the culprits have grabbed mostly jewelry, small electronics, purses for cash and other items that are easy to carry.

It is unclear at this point whether all of the breaks are related or if it is separate groups of people working in the same area.

"A lot of these breaks have been very, very similar," Albert said.

Albert said police are looking at people who approach homes which appear to be vacant and knock on the doors to determine if anyone is home. If a resident is home then they use a speech about selling items, giving estimates for repair work or about being lost, he said. If no one answers the door the suspects try to gain entry, he said.

Police are asking people to try to get a description of anyone that is approaching the door and the car that they are driving.

The area towns have gathered to form a task force as a way of sharing resources for investigations and to share leads. The police are seeing similar patterns in the break-ins that repeat themselves.

Michael A. Brown, of 55 Old Boston Turnpike, Hubbardston, was arrested in Gardner and is being held in connection with one of the break-ins, said Gardner Police Lt. Gerald J. Poirier. He does not think that Brown is the only suspect in the region's cases.

The breaks have usually occurred in single family homes in the rural communities like Westminster, Ashburnham, Princeton, Rutland and other area towns. Albert said the houses in Westminster are usually near routes 2A and 140, and not homes that are far away from the main travel routes.

Ashburnham has had only had one break in over the course of the last weeks, said Sgt. Todd Parsons. The department has sent an officer to participate in the task force for information sharing and for prevention purposes.

Parsons said it is to soon to determine if the break in Ashburnham is related to the others in the region.

Both police departments are asking residents to keep their doors and windows locked when they are not home, to watch neighbors houses and to report anything suspicious to police.

The suspects have not become violent with any residents yet, Albert said.